No More Jihad: Foreign IS Recruits Want to Return Home

MOSCOW, December 3 (Sputnik) – Many young jihadists, who have left their homes to join the Islamic State (IS) militants, are starting to question their decision to go to the Middle East, France’s Le Figaro reported.

Lawyers, whom the young French jihadists have contacted, said their clients want to return home, but fear possible criminal charges. “If I come back to France, what will happen to me? Can I avoid being sent to prison?”, one French IS recruit wrote, quoted by Le Figaro.

Earlier, a number of weepy messages were leaked to Le Figaro, which reveal many young French IS recruits have had second thoughts about their decision to join the IS militants.

Another recent IS recruit from France said his “jihad” mostly included fetching water and food to soldiers, cleaning up and carrying bodies of injured and dead. A third jihadist said he could not take it anymore being in Syria, because his iPod did not work, and therefore, he wanted to return home, Russian News Agency Russia Today (RT) reported.

According to lawyers, the young French jihadists are begging for advice on how they could return home and plan to appeal for clemency. French authorities are considering what to do with these cases. The longer these people stay in Syria and Iraq, the worse it will be; having watched violence and committed atrocities, the recent recruits will become ticking time-bombs, said one lawyer, according to Le Figaro.

French authorities are not yet sure whether the country is ready to accept back the regretful bunch. No politician will be willing to take the risks, if one of these ex-jihadists would be involved in a terrorist attack on home soil, the Telegraph said.

Nearly 1,000 French citizens are believed to have joined the ranks of IS. Nearly 100 have already returned to France, 76 of them are currently in prison, according to the Telegraph.