The Minister of Justice, Nicole Belloubet, raised this Saturday the hypothesis of a repatriation of French jihadists detained by the Kurds in Syria, his entourage refuting however a break with the position of Paris on this sensitive issue.
"Until recent developments, we thought of the possibility of setting up with other European states a mixed court in Iraq", to judge foreign jihadists that their countries do not want to take over, in particular French, a court "that we would have supported, "explained the minister in the columns of Liberation .
But "the game has changed," she said without further details. "In this case, if it is no longer possible to judge them on the spot, I see no other solution than to repatriate these people to France. Any terrorist fighter who is repatriated would be brought to court as we have always done. "
"We're not going to have fifty solutions"
"We cannot take the risk of dispersal in nature," said Nicole Belloubet. "We are not going to have fifty solutions: either we will repatriate them because we consider that it is better that they are under French control, or they will evaporate ... With the risks that this creates".
For Marc Lopez, member of the United Families collective, which campaigns for the repatriation of jihadists to try them in France and their children, it is an inflection: "The minister had not said it like that" until then. "There is no other solution" than repatriation, he stressed.
"Since August, no family has heard from the men imprisoned in Syria," added Marc Lopez, who believes that "what Ms. Belloubet says about the risk of dispersion (of the jihadists) is true".
"Humanitarian and security emergency"
"The Keeper of the Seals is finally calling for responsibility and reason and it was time," said Marie Dosé, a lawyer for families of children and mothers detained in Syria. “We have been waiting for more than two years for this government to finally come to its senses. Let him hear the humanitarian and security emergency to repatriate these children and bring their parents to justice in France, ”she said.
This Saturday noon, the entourage of the minister nevertheless assured that his line has not changed. "Our position is constant, we consider that the jihadists must be judged in the places where they committed their atrocities. This is why we support, with other European states, the principle of their judgment in Iraq with all the necessary guarantees, "said his entourage.
Judgment in Iraq "not achievable in the short term"
In mid-December, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian acknowledged that the question of a judgment in Iraq was "not achievable in the short term", in particular because of the revolt which is shaking this country. Since then, Iraq has also become a theater of confrontation between Iran and the United States.
The head of diplomacy said that in the absence of a short-term workable trial in Iraq, the fate of foreign jihadists detained by the Kurds will be part of the political settlement process in Syria under the aegis of the UN. He recalled the intangible position of France regarding the fate of its nationals members of the Islamic State group (IS) - their judgment on the theater where they fought - and stressed that it was shared by many European countries. Contacted by AFP, the Quai d'Orsay had not reacted immediately.
The children's question
Nicole Belloubet judge otherwise in Libération that it is "not acceptable" that very young children French jihadists are detained in camps in Kurdistan. However, it puts forward "legal" questions - the need to obtain the mother's agreement for the repatriation of the child - "factual" - the situation on the spot "no longer allows" to pick up these children - and "political", "the acceptability of the return of these children for our fellow citizens".
So far, the French government has only agreed to repatriate children from these camps on a "case by case" basis. After months of procrastination in a context of strong hostility from public opinion, Paris thus, in June 2019, repatriated 12 children, the majority of whom were orphans, after five repatriations in March 2019.
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- Nicole Belloubet
- Syria
- Family
- jihadism