13 French Female Jihadists, Including Coulibaly’s Partner, Escape Syrian Camps

These 13 jihadists were detained in camps under the control of the Kurds of Syria. "These elements confirm the inability of the local authorities to guarantee the detention of foreign jihadists, whether in prisons or in camps, where mutinies and escape attempts regularly occur," said Jean-Charles Brisard, the president of the Center for the Analysis of Terrorism. He added that "the main risk is that of the dispersion of the jihadists, who could either reinforce the ranks of jihadist organizations in Syria or Iraq, try to join another land of jihad, or even return clandestinely to Europe to commit attacks there".

One of the fugitives, Hayat Boumedienne, the companion of Amédy Coulibaly, one of the perpetrators of the January 2015 attacks in France, is the subject of a new investigation opened at the end of April in Paris for "criminal terrorist conspiracy". Already referred to the assizes in the investigation into several attacks, including the one against Charlie Hebdo, she had previously been reported dead by the wife of the French jihadist, Jean-Michel Clain, in March 2019, reports BFM.

The CAT, as well as other terrorist organizations and experts in France, continue to plead for the repatriation to France of the jihadists detained in the Kurdish camps and their families. "This is really the best option for our security and the progress of the investigations," said Jean-Charles Brisard, according to whom, among these 13 women, there are important figures of terrorism. "Some have been married to very well-known jihadists; others have done propaganda and have appeared in the magazines of the Islamic State organization," the same source indicates.