Two ISIS Women Land in Germany after Release from Iraqi Prisons

Two protesters at a demonstration in the German city of Offenbach. Asharq Al-Awsat
Two protesters at a demonstration in the German city of Offenbach. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Two ISIS Women Land in Germany after Release from Iraqi Prisons

Two protesters at a demonstration in the German city of Offenbach. Asharq Al-Awsat
Two protesters at a demonstration in the German city of Offenbach. Asharq Al-Awsat

Two German ISIS women with their three children have arrived in Frankfurt, after being held in a prison in the Kurdish capital Erbil. 

German newspaper Die Welt cited in its Friday issue reliable security circles, that the two ISIS women arrived at the Frankfurt International Airport a day earlier.

German authorities allowed the two women to take their children after undergoing a DNA screening to prove maternity, the newspaper said.

The two women and their young children were transported to Germany on an Iraqi Airways flight, and were accompanied by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police. They are expected to be referred to special guidance committees.

Die Welt sources confirmed that the two women were released and that the Federal Public Prosecution failed to obtain an arrest warrant against them.

However, the Supreme Court authorized federal police to search and interrogate the two women upon arrival in Frankfurt.

Last year, Germany’s Attorney General Peter Frank confirmed that he had zero tolerance policy against German ISIS members who had voluntarily joined the terrorist organizations and then returned from combat zones in Syria and Iraq.

However, the Federal Court rejected their request for detention because there were insufficient evidence of their support for the terrorist organization.

The court distinguishes between male combat duties in ISIS and the duties of others who join but conduct activity limited to childcare and housekeeping. It considers that German penal laws do not apply to such activity. 

Frank challenged the court's decision in January, but federal court judges have not yet ruled on the case until the arrival of the two women to Germany. 

According to Die Welt’s report, there are over 80 Germans who are currently imprisoned in northern Syria and Iraq. Women prisoners have many children, some of whom were born in the war-torn countries and in captivity.

So far 10 children have been repatriated to Germany after undergoing DNA analyses to prove their links to the German so-called “jihadi” women detained abroad.



Blinken, in Brussels, Pledges to Shore up Ukraine Support Ahead of Trump Transition

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (R) shake hands at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (R) shake hands at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
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Blinken, in Brussels, Pledges to Shore up Ukraine Support Ahead of Trump Transition

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (R) shake hands at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (R) shake hands at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 13 November 2024. (EPA)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured NATO on Wednesday that the Biden administration would bolster its support for Ukraine in the few months before Donald Trump's return as president and would try to strengthen the alliance in that time.

Meeting NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Brussels, Biden also said the deployment of North Korean troops to help Russia in the Ukraine war would get a "firm response".

President-elect Trump, who has questioned US military support for Ukraine, says he will quickly end Russia's war without saying how, raising concerns among U.S. allies he could try to force Kyiv to accept peace on Moscow's terms. Biden leaves office on Jan. 20.

Blinken said after meeting Rutte at the alliance’s headquarters they discussed ongoing support for Ukraine, where Russian forces have been making gains on the eastern front lines, and the work NATO must do strengthen its defense industrial base.

The outgoing US administration would "continue to shore up everything we're doing for Ukraine," he said.

"President Biden fully intends to drive through the tape and use every day to continue to do what we have done these last four years, which is strengthen this alliance," Blinken said.

The deployment of North Korean troops to support Russia in the conflict "demands and will get a firm response," he said.

Rutte said that "Russia has not won" in Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022.

"Obviously we have to do more to make sure that Ukraine can stay in the fight and is able to roll back as much as possible the Russian onslaught and prevent (President Vladimir) Putin from being successful in Ukraine," he said.

Blinken is expected to meet Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha later, according to a State Department schedule.

He will also meet NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Christopher Cavoli, top EU officials and British foreign secretary David Lammy in Brussels on Wednesday.