At dawn on July 5, a group of 16 women and 35 children landed in Paris. When the women left France, years ago, they were travelling to what was then ISIS-controlled territory in Iraq and Syria. Now, they returned as single mothers, coming from detention camps in northeast Syria. After three years of obstacles and indecision, France has finally decided to repatriate some of its citizens. While bringing people affiliated with ISIS back to French soil might seem incredibly risky at best and naive at worst, repatriation is still the most effective solution to the foreign fighter dilemma.
In the past 10 years, almost 2,000 people have left France to join terrorist organisations like ISIS. Around 20 per cent of them have been women. Since the military defeat of the so-called “caliphate” in 2019, several thousand foreigners with affiliation to ISIS have been detained in Kurdish camps and prisons in northeast Syria. Now, despite appalling living conditions, diseases, deaths, and scolding by international organisations, Kurds, the US and detainees’ families, France had, until July, only brought back 35 children, and did so on a case-by-case basis. Several hundreds French citizens or residents – 67 men, 75 women and 250 minors – remain in Kurdish camps and prisons.
France having now doubled the number of repatriated children with this latest group, and having brought back mothers, too, may point to a positive shift in policy; France and its European partners should also bring back the remainder of their citizens from Syria. But tracing the developments that led to this change helps to explain why this could also be little more than damage control.
Confronted with the dilemma of what to do with ISIS affiliates detained in Syria, countries adopt different approaches, ranging from citizenship stripping in the UK to actively repatriating citizens, as in the case of Kosovo. France has largely opted over the years to shy away from its responsibilities and has argued that ISIS affiliates should be tried in the region – aware that this was no feasible legal solution. As human rights organisations began condemning the gruesome conditions of “Europe’s Guantanamo”, more and more European countries started repatriating: Belgium is repatriating minors below 12. Germany has brought back 22 women and 69 children and the Netherlands has started repatriating women to stand trial.
France has not only become increasingly isolated among its European partners, but has faced mounting pressure from its citizens at home. In 2021, two families brought France before the European Court of Human Rights, alleging that “the refusal to repatriate their daughters and grandchildren expose them to inhuman and degrading treatment”.
Prosecuting French female returnees requires less evidence and leads to longer sentences, compared to other European countries
Last year, a French woman detained in a Syrian camp died from health complications from severe diabetes, leaving behind her 6-year-old daughter. The pressure mounted in February when the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child found that “France’s failure to repatriate French children...in life-threatening conditions for years violates their right to life, as well as their right to be free from inhuman and degrading treatment”.
Still, France has grimly held its position. Repatriations are not easily marketed as a political win and France has been traumatised from multiple deadly terrorist attacks in the past decade. Terrorism remains a politicised topic in France. Government officials hinted that Paris would start moving on the repatriation question once the recent presidential elections were over – a clear prioritisation of politics over humanitarian, legal and security considerations.
But other considerations have helped to push France’s latest decision. Jean-Charles Brisard, president of the French Centre for the Analysis of Terrorism points to several recent developments. First, the repatriation was “mainly related to the deterioration of the security situation in the region”. Among rising tensions and fearing a Turkish offensive, Syrian Kurdish authorities declared a state of emergency on July 6, mobilising all of their forces. With an intensification of the conflict and fewer personnel available to guard the camps and prisons, detainees – including those strongly suspected of retaining ties to ISIS – could use the opportunity to flee.
During a Turkish attack in October 2019, for example, 10 French women were able to flee from the Ain Issa camp. And among the women repatriated this month is Emilie Konig, who figures on American and UN terrorism blacklists.
A second reason is the increased activity of ISIS in the area. Most prominent was the attack on a prison for ISIS fighters, including foreigners, in Hasakah, Syria in January 2022: hundreds fighters are thought to have escaped and, although many were recaptured, scores are still missing and might re-join IS. A final reason was to pre-empt an “imminent” decision against France from the European Court of Human Rights.
Repatriation is a crucial step, but it is only the start of a longer process. Most of the repatriated minors are under the age of five, and include seven orphans. Upon arrival, minors are usually separated from their mothers before undergoing a health and psychological screening and being placed with host families. Child welfare officers assess the need for specialised counselling and whether the child can return to his or her family of origin. The social reintegration of these children will be a long-term challenge.
Adult returnees, on the other hand, are arrested upon arrival In France and placed in isolation units during pre-trial detention. One repatriated minor will turn 18 in the coming days and has also been arrested due to security concerns. Since 2016, female returnees have also been more rigorously prosecuted, on charges including association with a terrorist group, child endangerment or war crimes. The average prison sentence is six years and eight months. In comparison to other European countries, prosecuting French female returnees for terrorism offences requires less evidence and leads to longer sentences. Since early 2022, female returnees can be assessed in special units and distributed to ordinary detention, isolation or prevention units. After release, a multi-disciplinary programme supports their rehabilitation and reintegration.
Repatriating foreign fighters might not seem like the most attractive political decision. Returnees might be involved in terrorist attacks and security agencies might not always be able to thwart them. Nonetheless, repatriating is the safer option. It allows for bringing perpetrators to justice, assessing their risk, and supporting disengagement from a violent ideology.
Children, particularly, should be considered victims instead of paying for their parent's decision and being abandoned in breeding grounds for extremist socialisation. Finally, Europeans cannot indefinitely continue unloading their problematic citizens on the Kurds, who have already paid a high price to defeat ISIS.
While this repatriation of French minors and mothers is a positive signal, it has to be the beginning of a larger campaign to meet France’s obligations. It would be the perfect opportunity for European countries to develop a joint repatriation strategy. France should also set up bilateral exchange mechanisms on concrete cases to complement existing international investigations of ISIS, such as those run by the UN, to exchange “battlefield evidence” for the prosecution of returnees, for example, for crimes committed against members of the Yazidi community.
France finally seems to be willing to take responsibility for its citizens and take short- and long-term security considerations seriously. Together with other European governments, it should now work on repatriating all remaining men, women and children, prosecute adults and brace for the long road of returnee’s rehabilitation and reintegration. Only then it will be able to live up to the high standards of accountability and human rights that it should expect from itself and that it expects from its partners.
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
EXPATS
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The five pillars of Islam
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Getting there
The flights
Flydubai operates up to seven flights a week to Helsinki. Return fares to Helsinki from Dubai start from Dh1,545 in Economy and Dh7,560 in Business Class.
The stay
Golden Crown Igloos in Levi offer stays from Dh1,215 per person per night for a superior igloo; www.leviniglut.net
Panorama Hotel in Levi is conveniently located at the top of Levi fell, a short walk from the gondola. Stays start from Dh292 per night based on two people sharing; www. golevi.fi/en/accommodation/hotel-levi-panorama
Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Rovaniemi offers stays from Dh1,379 per night based on two people sharing; www.arctictreehousehotel.com
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 575bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh554,000
On sale: now
The biog
Family: Parents and four sisters
Education: Bachelor’s degree in business management and marketing at American University of Sharjah
A self-confessed foodie, she enjoys trying out new cuisines, her current favourite is the poke superfood bowls
Likes reading: autobiographies and fiction
Favourite holiday destination: Italy
Posts information about challenges, events, runs in other emirates on the group's Instagram account @Anagowrunning
Has created a database of Emirati and GCC sportspeople on Instagram @abeermk, highlight: Athletes
Apart from training, also talks to women about nutrition, healthy lifestyle, diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 2 (Willems 25', Shelvey 88')
Manchester City 2 (Sterling 22', De Bruyne 82')
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Gulf rugby
Who’s won what so far in 2018/19
Western Clubs Champions League: Bahrain
Dubai Rugby Sevens: Dubai Hurricanes
West Asia Premiership: Bahrain
What’s left
UAE Conference
March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Hurricanes II v Al Ain Amblers, Jebel Ali Dragons II v Dubai Tigers
March 29, final
UAE Premiership
March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Exiles v Jebel Ali Dragons, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Dubai Hurricanes
March 29, final
The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now
Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani