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CRIME

Denmark jails IS ‘wife’ for three years

A 35-year-old Danish woman was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison for entering Syria and promoting the Islamic State (IS) group's activities, prosecutors in Denmark said.

A woman walks through Syria's Camp Roj
A woman walks through Syria's Camp Roj, where relatives of people suspected of belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group are held. A Danish woman was sentenced to three years in prison on Friday for travelling to Syria to support IS. Photo: Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

During the mother of five’s trial, the prosecutor had argued that wives were a key part of IS.

“Even if you did not actively participate in the fighting, we assert that you can support the terrorist organisation by shopping in its supermarkets, by taking care of the children, by being a housewife,” prosecutor Trine Schjodt
Fogh said.

The woman, who pleaded guilty, was convicted of “having promoted the activities of IS, in particular by acting as the housewife and wife of a person who was active in the terrorist organisation,” the prosecution authority said in a statement.

She was also found guilty of having “entered and resided in al-Raqqa district in Raqqa province and Deir al-Zour province in Syria, which were defined as conflict zones during the period”.

The  woman, who is originally from the west of Denmark, arrived in Syria eight years ago, a journey she “bitterly” regrets, her lawyer Mette Gith Stage told news agency Ritzau.

“The last few years have been difficult for her, first in the caliphate, then in a prison camp and now in prison. She misses her children terribly and is eager for the case to end so that she and her children can move on,” the
lawyer said.

In October 2021, Denmark removed three women and 14 children from the Kurdish-controlled Roj camp in north-eastern Syria in a joint operation with Germany.

The three women were arrested on arrival in Denmark and have since been in detention and the trial that just ended marks the first of three.

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CRIME

Kosovo ratifies deal on renting prison cells to Denmark

Legislators in Kosovo on Thursday ratified an agreement signed with Denmark to rent the Scandinavian country 300 prison cells to help ease overcrowding in the kingdom's penitentiaries.

Kosovo ratifies deal on renting prison cells to Denmark

Under the deal Kosovo will be paid around 200 million euros ($220 million) over the next decade, with the funds helping improve the government’s correctional institutions and finance renewable energy projects.

Prisoners convicted of terrorism and war crimes in Denmark along with those diagnosed with mental illness will not be sent to Kosovo, according to the agreement.

“Eighty six have supported it, seven against and there were no abstentions, and one deputy did not participate in the vote at all”, said parliamentary speaker Glauk Konjufca following the vote in the 120-strong parliament.

Denmark’s justice ministry also confirmed the approval of the agreement.

“This is crucial for us to secure more Danish prison places and will help bring our hard-pressed prison system back into balance,” said Denmark’s justice minister Peter Hummelgaard in a statement.

The future inmates will be sent to a prison in Gjilan town — about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kosovo’s capital Pristina.

The foreign prisoners will be deported after serving their sentence.

The prison population in Denmark surged by nearly 20 percent since 2015 and reached more than 4,000 people by the start of 2021 — putting the occupation rate above 100 percent, according to official data.

During the same period, the number of guards fell by 18 percent.

Previously Norway and Belgium have rented prison cells in the Netherlands.

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