Belgium Receives Two Convicted Jihadist Sisters Deported from Turkey

The two jihadist sisters arrived at Brussels airport by "a regular flight", accompanied by police, according to the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office in a press release. Convicted by default to five years in prison in their country of origin for "participation in the activities of a terrorist group", Rahma Benmezian and her younger sister Fatima were "transferred to a prison" to "serve their respective sentences", the same source specifies.

According to Eric Van Duyse, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office, the two former Daesh fighters have 14 days to "file an opposition to their judgment".

According to a source close to the case, the elder sister Rahma Benmezian, 31, had fled a camp in Syria. And, she was sentenced to five years in prison in Antwerp on June 27, 2019. The younger Fatima Benmezian, 24, had taken advantage of the Kurdish military offensive to escape from the Kurdish-controlled Ain Issa camp in northern Syria. After managing to cross Kilis, in Turkey near the border with Syria with the help of smugglers, Fatima had been arrested in early November, recall the newspapers De Morgen and Het Laatste Nieuws.

After their return to Belgium, the federal prosecutor’s office was keen to explain that their transfer did not take place as part of a judicial extradition. For their part, Mes Lahlali and Ozdemir, the lawyers of the two women, are rushing to find out the wish of their clients: to file an opposition or to accept the judgment.

The Kurdish forces in Syria hold thousands of Islamic State jihadists. Among them, around fifty Belgians according to the official figures communicated to Brussels.