French Woman Sentenced for Joining ISIS in Syria, Released After Time Served

The defendant is accused of "criminal terrorist conspiracy" and of having taken her children to Syria, a war zone, to join her husband and their father, Rachid M., killed in 2016 by an American drone while fighting for the Islamic State. For these acts, she was sentenced by the special assize court to five years in prison, three of which were suspended. Appearing free, Salima R., having already spent two years in pre-trial detention, from 2018 to 2020, left the courthouse free, reports Le Parisien.

Currently, the young woman works as an activity coordinator in a nursing home. At the stand, she claims to have voluntarily adhered to the ideals of Daesh, but to have never participated in any act of violence or war. Born in Sens (Yonne) to Moroccan parents, Salima married Rachid M., who lived in Trappes (Yvelines), before she was 17 years old. The couple joined Syria in the spring of 2014, after a stay of a few months in Egypt.

Salima R. participated in the "belly jihad", explained an investigator from the DGSI heard by the court, stressing that the defendant who had two children, had three more in Syria and was pregnant with a sixth when she was repatriated to France. The first five children were placed in foster families. The sixth, born in prison in France, was entrusted to his grandparents.

While the prosecution requested 13 years of imprisonment against Salima, her lawyer, Adélaïde Jacquin, pleaded for a sentence "adapted to the person she has become today". Finally, the court sentenced the young woman to five years in prison, three of which were suspended. According to data from the Ministry of Justice, about sixty women have been incarcerated in France upon their return from Syria. In total, some 1,500 French people are said to have joined Daesh and 500 children were born there.