French women jihadists are more radicalised and have a greater operational role in the Islamic State Group than previously thought, according to a confidential document obtained by French daily Le Monde, reports FRANCE 24.
Nearly half of French adults known by the authorities to have joined the ranks of the Islamic State group (IS) since the 'caliphate' was proclaimed in 2014 are women. But who are they and why did they join the terrorist organisation? To find answers to these questions and assess the level of threat these women represent, the French justice ministry poured over the hearings of French women arrested over the past four years on their return from Syria.
Their findings, published in a confidential internal document accessed by Le Monde, are revealing: most of these women did not simply provide domestic support as anti-terrorism experts have tended to think but, in fact, they are radicalised in their own right and played an active part in the running of the terrorist organisation.
“Although several French women were forced into joining IS by their husbands, most of the ‘muhajirat’ (female recruits) interviewed on their return expressed an attachment to the jihadist project,” Le Monde reported. The document showed that only one third of the women who left France to join the ‘caliphate’ went with a family.
“They describe their involvement as being a result of their aversion for the West, and of a feeling of victimisation and attraction for the caliphate, which they see as a way of living their faith free from Western oppression,” reported the newspaper.
The study, written for magistrates, highlights the importance of these women in the running of the organisation.
Their role went beyond providing domestic help to producing heirs and educating future fighters. This begs the question of these women's responsibility regarding children’s exposure to violence there, such as showing them scenes of executions.