In the first case of its kind, a mother is suing the French state after her teenage son travelled to Syria to join jihadists fighting there, claiming the authorities should have done more to stop him from making the journey to the war-torn country, reports FRANCE 24.
The 16-year-old boy travelled to Syria via Turkey last year, his mother, named as Nadine D, told French daily Le Parisien in an interview published Monday.
Despite his young age, the fact he was travelling alone on a route commonly used by Westerners heading to fight in Syria and was without a passport – only his national ID card – he did not rouse the suspicions of French border police, she said.
“Given current events, the border police should have at least questioned a minor travelling alone to such a destination,” Nadine told the newspaper.
“Common sense should have led them to ask him why he was going there, if he had family ties there and why he was not accompanied.”
Although the boy, whom the newspaper referred to by the false name Dylan, told his mother he was undertaking “humanitarian work” in the country, he is believed to have joined the ranks of jihadists fighting in Syria.
According to David Thomson, a journalist at RFI who has been in contact with Dylan, he is a member of a group of fighters affiliated with al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s official Syrian branch.
Nadine filed a complaint against the state for misconduct at the administrative court in Paris in mid-November, demanding damages of 110,000 euros.