Worried for their daughters parties join the AR

News 19 July, 2017
  • Photo Twitter
    Linda Wenzel, a young German girl of 16 years, would be part of the 20 women arrested by the iraqi army. The youth, frail and covered in dust, would have fled his country and his family after falling in love with a jihadist met on the internet.

    Hugo Duchaine

    Tuesday, 18 July 2017 22:25

    UPDATE
    Tuesday, 18 July 2017 22:25

    Look at this article

    Of quebec families whose daughters have joined the ranks of jihadists in the Middle East fear that they are not to be found in the hands of the iraqi army, now that she has defeated the armed group islamic State.

    “I have parents who cry, and who don’t know what to do […] They are in the absolute nothingness,” says the director of the Center for the prevention of radicalization leading to violence, Herman Okomba-Deparice.

    Photo Chantal Poirier

    Herman Okomba-Deparice. Prevention of radicalisation

    Parents who might have news of their child every three or four months, wonder if they are still alive.

    “Any communication is broken, it is the stampede of the iraqi authorities,” he continued.

    Families worry about especially since european media have reported that 20 women have reportedly been arrested, after being found in a tunnel in Mosul, where there were the last battles against the jihadists.

    Citing a report of the forces of counter-terrorism in iraq, the media say that there would be two women among the 20 women, as well as German, Turkish and Russian.

    For now, their identity remains unknown. The spokesperson of global Affairs in Canada, Jocelyn Sweet, responds by email that the government has seen the news reports and tries to find out more.

    Six families

    Mr. Okomba-Deparice has also communicated with the iraqi authorities in order to know if the two Canadian from Quebec. We do not know the exact number of Quebecers who would have joined the armed group islamic State, he said, but his centre knows at least six families whose girls are the parties to the Middle East.

    He recalls that the conditions of detention and arrest in Iraq are far from being the same as they are here, and that the families have a fear that they are victims of physical or sexual abuse.

    The european media in particular have released images of the arrest of the one who would be a young German girl of 16 years radicalized, who fled his country to join the jihadists.

    The German authorities believe that it would have converted to islam after falling in love with a member of the armed group islamic State with which it clavardait.

    The images show frail and covered in dust, while iraqi troops around and take pictures.

    Legal blur

    Herman Okomba-Deparice argues that families are unaware of where and how it will be judged Quebecers who have joined the ranks of the jihadists.

    There would be 20 to 30 Quebec political parties in the Middle East, and 130 to 250 Canadians, according to the Center for the prevention of radicalization leading to violence.

    “We don’t know if there will be any extraditions, but the families would rather that they should be tried here,” said Mr. Okomba-Deparice, adding that Iraq has the death penalty as a sanction.

    “Young girls have also had children in the place, so there is a dilemma on their nationality,” he continued.

    If they are out of the country, the young people of Quebec will also have to face justice, warns Mr. Okomba-Deparice.