Germany must repatriate from Syria IS fighter's wife and children- court
A Berlin court has ruled that Germany's foreign ministry
should repatriate from Syria the German wife and three children of a suspected ISIS fighter, in what a court spokesman said was the first such ruling
against the government.
The man's family sued the foreign ministry after German
diplomats declined a request to help his wife return to Germany with her three
children from a Kurdish-controlled area of northern Syria, the court spokesman
said on Thursday.
Like other Western countries, Germany faces a dilemma of how
to deal with citizens who went to the Middle East to join groups like ISIS, which was driven out of its last territorial enclave in March by
US-backed forces.
The suspected fighter, whose fate is unknown, left Germany
for Syria with his wife and two daughters, now aged 7 and 8, in 2014. His wife
had a third child in Syria two years ago, the court spokesman said.
Germany's government had wanted to repatriate only the children.
But the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria, where thousands of
ISIS fighters are being held, demanded that their mother also be sent
back.
A German foreign ministry spokesman said the government was
studying the ruling and may appeal at a higher court. A lawyer for the family
did not respond to a request for comment.
German intelligence officials say more than 1,000 Germans
went to fight in Syria and Iraq, where ISIS once controlled swathes of
territory in a self-declared caliphate.
About a third have returned to Germany, another third are
believed to have died, and the rest are thought still to be in Iraq and Syria,
these officials say.
Thousands of ISIS members, including hundreds of
foreigners and women and children, are being held by Kurdish-led authorities in
northern Syria.
US President Donald Trump has urged Britain, France and
Germany to take back more of their nationals from among the detainees and put
them on trial.
Germany has said it would take back fighters only if the
suspects have consular access, adding that in principle, all of its citizens
and those suspected of having fought for ISIS have the right to
return.
But in April, the government approved a draft bill allowing
it to strip Germans with a second nationality who fight abroad for groups like
ISIS of their citizenship.