Three young orphans of French jihadist parents who died after joining the ranks of the so-called Islamic State group in Syria have been held in orphanages in Damascus since November 2019. The aunt of two of them has been campaigning for their return to France, but the French authorities have told her they cannot help with the repatriation. “It’s a political question, but it is these children who suffer the consequences,” says their aunt. “They have already paid for the choices made by their parents.” Céline Martelet reports.
Three young orphans of French jihadist parents killed in Syria after joining the ranks of the so-called Islamic State group have been held in orphanages in Damascus since November 2019. The aunt of two of them has been campaigning for their return to France, but the French authorities have told her they cannot help. “It’s a political question, but it is these children who suffer the consequences,” says their aunt. “They have already paid for the choices made by their parents.” Céline Martelet reports.
Calixte Songa Mbappé, 54, a single mother of five, worked on temporary contracts in a care home operated by Paris City Hall when the novel coronavirus epidemic began sweeping through France. In close physical contact with the residents, but not issued with a face mask or other protective clothing, she caught the virus in mid-March and died within weeks. Her financially insecure children are now in an uphill fight for official recognition that her illness was caused at her workplace. Mathilde Goanec reports on an emblematic case of the unsung carers who lost their lives to Covid-19, and the plight of the families left behind.
A group of 12 children of deceased French jihadists was flown home on Monday from north-east Syria where they were held by Kurdish forces, the latest step in efforts to resolve the problem posed by the huge numbers of foreign jihadists and their families stranded in Syrian camps after the military defeat of the so-called Islamic State group.
France has announced the repatriation of five children aged up to five years who were placed in internement camps in Syria after their French parents, who had joined the Islamic State group, are reported to have died or gone missing in fighting, and thanked Kurdish-led forces 'for their cooperation, which made this outcome possible'.
