- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

EU Seeking Way to Deal With Jihadi Fighters Returning Home

© AP Photo / albaraka_news, FileIslamic State militants
Islamic State militants - Sputnik International
Subscribe
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – The authorities of the EU member states are currently striving to find an approach to dealing with foreign fighters, individuals who have left their countries to join terrorist organizations in the Middle East, who are returning to their homes in the continent

Returning jihadists do not leave to war zones alone — they are accompanied by their wives and children. Since the Daesh has been defeated in Iraq and Syria, thousands of jihadists and their families have begun returning to Europe or been captured and detained before they can make it out of the Middle East.

Divisions in German Society On Tackling Islamist Returnees

German media reported on Sunday, citing government figures, that over 1,000 jihadists, over half of whom had a German passport, had traveled to the Middle East to join terrorist organizations.

According to the government’s statistics, the number of individuals who leave Germany to join terrorist groups continues to grow, but the rate at which this happens has decreased in comparison to two years ago.

Members of the Syrian police hold their weapons as they sit on a back of a truck at the city of Douma, Damascus, Syria April 16, 2018 - Sputnik International
Without Iran, Syria Would Have Been Overtaken By Jihadists – Analyst
Over 200 women had left Germany to join the Daesh in the Middle East, around 60 of whom subsequently returned to Germany, the data found.

Almost every female returnee had at least one child, meaning that around 120 children, toddlers and babies should have accompanied these women, the data showed. However, the German authorities do not know the exact number of underage returnees, since they are prohibited from collecting data on children under the age of 14 years.

German NGOs, such as Diakonie Wert, a Protestant charity, and Caritas Germany, believe that families should be protected and helped, and children should not be separated from their mothers, even if they are radicalized. The health and well-being of a child is the most important priority for them.

The NGOs say that child returnees do not present a threat to security since the group — which consists of only some 120 minors — can be monitored by the authorities.

On the contrary, Germany's domestic security agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), maintains that underage returnees do in fact pose a threat to security. In the agency's point of view, the Daesh has directly targets children and youth in its propaganda, including videos of executions carried out by children.

"We see the threat of children, socialized by Islamists, and thus accordingly indoctrinated, returning to Germany from a war zone. I fear the possibility that a new generation of jihadis is being created," BfV President Hans-Georg Maassen said.

In 2017, the BfV set up a hotline for those seeking advice or offering tips on tackling radicalization of German nationals online. Maassen said his agency had been receiving tips from asylum seekers and migrants arriving in Germany, and following up on them.

Should Jihadists Be Tried In Middle East?

Like in Germany, other societies in Europe are divided on how to treat foreign fighters and jihadi returnees.

Bjoern Hoecke, chairman of the Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) in the German state of Thuringia, leaves after a press statement in Erfurt, central Germany, Monday, Feb. 13, 2017 - Sputnik International
'We Don't Want Jihadists in Germany' - AfD Bavaria Chairman
Right-wing parties in Europe believe that those who are still in the Middle East should be tried there.

On the other hand, left-wing parties and NGOs say that Europeans must welcome these people back to their countries. From their point of view, the worst cases should be tried in Europe, where there is no death penalty.

"They should not be allowed to return if they have dual nationality. Let the other country deal with them. They have left Europe, they should not be allowed to come back and should be judged in Syria for their crimes in Syria," Filip Dewinter, a member of the Belgian federal parliament who has visited war-torn Syria several times, told Sputnik.

Jihadi Groups Strive For Polarization of European Society

Pieter Van Ostaeyen, a researcher and author from Belgium, told Sputnik that the authorities should mind their actions when it comes to Islam and avoid merely symbolic moves, because otherwise they risk alienating even the moderate voices within Muslim communities.

"Policymakers should not give in to the emotional demands of non-Islamic citizens when these do not address genuine problems but are purely motivated by fear and distrust — even when such feelings may be understandable. Polarisation within Western societies is exactly what the violent jihadist movement is trying to create," Van Ostaeyen said.

Shot with an extreme telephoto lens and through haze from the outskirts of Suruc at the Turkey-Syria border, militants with the Islamic State group are seen after placing their group's flag on a hilltop at the eastern side of the town of Kobani, Syria (File) - Sputnik International
Denmark Reluctant to 'Reclaim' Its Jailed Daesh Jihadists
The overwhelming majority of refugees do not have bad intentions and should not be harmed because of the malicious goals of a few extremists, the researcher pointed out.

"Tackling both the risk and the fear can only be achieved through the use of strict controls, for which much more cooperation between European countries will be necessary. The EU and national governments should also empower trusted organizations to help integration in the host societies," Van Ostaeyen noted, adding that such organizations should also ensure that Islamist groups do not exploit this situation for their benefit.

Pierre Henrot, a Belgian analyst of terrorist threats, told Sputnik that many of the individuals who had left Western Europe to join jihadist organizations in the Middle East had a family, a good job and a degree.

"Those who left for Iraq or Syria were not ignorant or ‘lost’ for society. A young man who has a social status, money (acquired legally or illegally), does not leave out of spite. The dual character of Islam, both political and religious, actually acts as a catalyst," Henrot said.

According to the analyst, a typical young radicalized Muslim from Molenbeek in Belgium or Berlin in Germany does not practice Islam and has never read the Koran, but they do believe that the Koran offers them the opportunity to play an active role in their religion.

Former Islamic State members sit in a classroom at the Syrian Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in the town of Marea in northern Aleppo countryside, Syria, November 2, 2017. Picture taken November 2, 2017 - Sputnik International
Despite Imminent Daesh Defeat Fewer Jihadists Returning 'Home' to Europe
"The enemy to kill is the corrupt and decadent West. He himself drinks alcohol, does not practice his religion, has no morals, but it plays a bit the role of baptism in the Christian faith. He is ‘born again’ becoming an Islamist. Under the envious gaze of his friends, he becomes a hero in his neighborhood. Then he is caught in a vicious circle: no question of deserting: the IS [Daesh] does not accept it," Henrot explained.

Many foreign fighters have returned to the European Union, but thousands have yet to come back, the analyst added.

Most of the returnees could still be very dangerous, and EU societies should be cautious as long radical Muslim ideologies — Wahhabism and Salafism — are spread in the bloc, Henrot suggested.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала