Belgium Faces Deadline to Repatriate Children of ISIS Fighters from Syria

The decision of the Brussels summary judge dates back to December 11. The Belgian state had been forced to provide consular assistance as well as administrative, travel and identity documents to facilitate the repatriation of the children in question, reports 7sur7.be. A six-week deadline had therefore been given to the Belgian authorities to settle the case of these children, under penalty of paying a penalty of 50,000 euros per day and per child in case of delay.

According to the same source, the children, whose parents are named Nadia Baghouri, Jessie Van Eetvelde, Sabah Hammani and Adel Mezroui, are aged between 6 months and 7 years, suffer from malnutrition and are in the Al-Hol refugee camp, away from the area currently occupied by the Turks in Syria.

Mohamed Ozdemir, the parents’ lawyer, deplores the laxity of the Belgian state which has only asked for a few identity photos of the children, while during this time, he worries, the families have not received the visit of the consular services. To date, specifies Het Nieuwsblad, twelve children of Belgian jihadists have already returned to Belgium. And to add that four others arrived at Zaventem airport on Monday afternoon, while around fifty Belgian children are still detained in several camps in Syria.