Human Rights Watch calls on France to return its nationals detained in Syria
Human Rights Watch published a report yesterday calling on the French authorities to repatriate their French children and women held in camps in northeastern Syria.
The report emphasized, “About 160 French children and 75 women are still arbitrarily held in the region in life-threatening, squalid conditions, and about 60 French men suspected of ISIS links are detained in overcrowded prisons.”
The report explained, “These French nationals are among tens of thousands of foreigners from about 60 nationalities held in northeast Syria as ISIS suspects.”
The report indicated, “France persisted until last week with a cruel case-by-case approach, repatriating only 35 children in three years, citing security concerns.”
The organization concluded its report saying, “Abandoning these detainees will not help stop ISIS, but it will only increase the suffering of those left behind, a majority of them children.”
It is noteworthy that on July 5, the French authorities returned 51 women and children from the camps in northeastern Syria, according to a statement issued by the Office of the Public Prosecutor for Combating Terrorism.
