The Government has agreed to repatriate from Syria four presumed jihadists—married to Spanish fighters of the Islamic State—on whom there is an international arrest warrant issued by the National Court, according to ministerial sources confirmed to La Vanguardia. Their children will also be transferred to Spain “when the stability of the area allows it”, although the intention is for the repatriation to take place before the end of the year.
According to figures from the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR), between 1,000 and 1,200 European women would have joined —between 2012 and 2019— the ranks of jihadist groups active in Syria and Iraq, mainly the Islamic State. Among them, the four married women or widows of militiamen that the Government now promises to repatriate despite the legal and security difficulties that the situation entails.
They are Yolanda Martínez, Luna Fernández, Lubna Miludi and Loubna Fares, who traveled to Syria in 2014 to be part of the Islamic State. The first two, as confirmed by police sources, are registered as "dangerous" in the files of the State Security Forces and Bodies.
The repatriation, carried out by El País, is being piloted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defense. An official from High Diplomacy visited the women in the Al Hol and Al Roj camps last summer to establish the conditions for their possible return to Spain. The sources consulted explain that the return of the four women would mean their immediate arrest.
The National Court, which accuses them of the crimes of collaboration and integration into a terrorist organization, should decide whether to order their entry into provisional prison. The alleged jihadists, who have at least 16 minors in their care, defend that they traveled in 2014 deceived by their husbands.
