PARIS — A French woman captured in the Iraqi city of Mosul with her four children is facing possible prosecution in Iraq for allegedly collaborating with the Islamic State group, in a test case for how governments handle the families of foreign fighters now that the extremists are in retreat.
The fate of the children, ranging in age from 6 months to 8 years old, is in legal limbo. The father’s whereabouts are unknown.
How Iraq and France choose to handle this family’s case could set a precedent for the many other foreigners who joined the IS cause. France alone estimates that 750 French people are among extremists in Iraq and Syria — including up to 450 children.
Two Iraqi intelligence officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the woman is being investigated in Baghdad and could face terrorism charges for illegally entering Iraq and joining IS, and that the French government wants the children handed over to France.
French consular officials have been pushing for permission to see the family since their arrest earlier this month — but the French government has shown no interest in having the woman brought home.
The woman’s lawyer says the whole family should be brought to France, even though she would probably be jailed and face terrorism charges upon her return. Lawyer William Bourdon fears she could be abusesd in Iraq and used as a scapegoat for IS crimes or as a pawn in domestic conflicts.
But French government spokesman Christophe Castaner said Wednesday the mother should be prosecuted in Iraq, saying she wasn’t in Mosul “for tourism.”
While he said France condemns reported abuses by Iraqi troops in their campaign against IS, he insisted “the authorities in Iraq are justified in wanting to judge (foreign fighters) on site.”
The woman, believed to be in her 30s, was arrested July 9 along with her two sons and two daughters in Mosul’s Old City, according to the Iraqi intelligence officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release information.
The woman worked for Islamic State’s Diwan al-Hisba, or morality police, and told Iraqi security forces that her husband was killed during the fight in Mosul’s Old City, the officials said.
