Vilvoorde Jihadi bride and her 3 children return to Belgium
A 24-year-old jihadi bride from the Flemish Brabant town of Vilvoorde has returned to Belgium with her three children. The Federal Judicial Authorities report that the woman has been taken to prison. Her three children are being cared for.
The woman and her children returned to Belgium from Turkey on Thursday. In 2013, aged just 16, the woman left her home in Vilvoorde for the area of Syria that was then under the control of the Islamist terrorist group IS. Her three children aged between three and five years old were all born in Syria.
In September the woman handed herself in to the Turkish authorities. On her arrival in Belgium the woman was taken straight to prison. Previously a court had sentenced her in her absence to a 5-year jail sentence after she had been found guilty of participation in a terrorist group.
The woman’s children are undergoing physical and psychological tests. A Juvenile Court Judge will be decide who will look after them. For privacy reasons and so as not to hinder their integration into society, the Judicial Authorities won’t give any further details about the children.