SHARE
COPY LINK

JIHADISTS

France’s ‘Mama Jihad’ jailed for 10 years for encouraging jihadist son

A Frenchwoman, nicknamed "Mama Jihad", who tavelled to Syria three times to support her jihadist son was handed a 10-year jail sentence on Friday in the latest case against parents of Isis fighters.

France's 'Mama Jihad' jailed for 10 years for encouraging jihadist son
File photo: AFP

Christine Riviere, 51 was convicted of being part of a terrorist organization.

She was given the maximum sentence her”unfailing commitment” to jihad and for helping a number of young women travel to Syria as part of her attempts to find a bride for her son Tyler Vilus, with whom she was described as having an “inseparable relationship”.

Vilus travelled to Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State group. He is believed to have been close to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of the masterminds of the Paris terror attacks.

Riviere, who has been nicknamed “Mama Jihad” in the French press, visited him three times in 2013 and 2014.

She told the court she feared he would not return home.

She was arrested in July 2014 as she was preparing a fourth visit.

She was accused of helping him financially but also of sharing his fanatical ideas and was found to have shared jihadist propaganda online, including videos of decapitations.

Her son Tyler was arrested in Turkey in 2015 and extradited to France here he awaits trial.

He conviction comes just a week the mother of another jihadist was jailed for two years after she was convicted of wiring cash to her son in Syria.

Nathalie Haddadi, (see photo below) 43, insisted she did not know how her son Belabbas Bounaga spent the money she wired to him and said the conviction was a “double punishment” for a grieving mum.

“I have trouble understanding how they can accuse me of financing terrorism,” Haddadi told reporters before hearing the verdict.

French woman jailed for wiring cash to her jihadist son

“I helped my son,” she said, while insisting she had never sent money to Syria.

The judge said Haddadi had known “perfectly well” that her son was using the money to travel to Syria and that the sentence was in keeping with “the gravity” of the acts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

JIHADISTS

Denmark to strip jihadists of nationality amid fear of returns

Denmark said Monday it planned to strip dual-national suspected jihadists of citizenship to stop them from returning to Danish soil, as Turkey's deadly offensive in Syria sends Isis members fleeing.

Denmark to strip jihadists of nationality amid fear of returns
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at last week's C40 World Mayors Summit. Photo: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen/Ritzau Scanpix

“These people turned their backs on Denmark and used violence to fight against our democracy and freedoms. They constitute a threat to our security. They are undesirable in Denmark,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement.

The Social Democratic government's initiative, which is backed by a majority of parties in parliament, would involve stripping the citizenship of dual nationals while they are abroad, with only an expedited administrative decision.

Until now, a court ruling was needed.

“There is a risk that the Kurdish-controlled Isis camps in the border region collapse, and that foreign fighters with Danish citizenship make their way to Denmark,” Frederiksen said.

The expedited bill will be considered by parliament in the coming weeks and could be adopted within a month.

In early September, Denmark's justice minister said there were 36 jihadists who had travelled from Denmark to fight in the region.

Among them, 10 had their residency permits withdrawn and 12 had been jailed.

In March, under the previous government, Denmark adopted a law depriving children born abroad to Danish jihadists the right to citizenship.

READ ALSO: 

SHOW COMMENTS