European countries have brought back Islamic State families without the slightest hesitation. What do they know in Mosul that they don’t know in Europe?
“‘They are a time bomb’: Fear in Iraq’s Mosul as IS families return from Syria,” Middle East Eye, May 30, 2021:
The return of dozens of Iraqi families suspected of links to the Islamic State (IS) group from Syria to Mosul has sparked fears among residents who survived the horrors of IS rule.
Around 300 people from some 90 families left the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp in northeast Syria on Tuesday under Iraqi army escort, a Kurdish administration official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
It was the first repatriation of Iraqi families from the camp, which is home to more than 60,000 people, including relatives of IS fighters, and came as part of an agreement between Baghdad and the multinational coalition battling the jihadists.
But the move has stirred up nightmares for many Mosul residents.
For three years, Mosul was the heart of IS’s self-proclaimed “caliphate”.
IS fighters imposed a strict interpretation of sharia law, banning music and smoking and meting out brutal punishments, including public beheadings, for those who violated their rules.
“We are totally opposed to their return,” said Omar, a 28-year-old soldier, whose father was killed by an IS fighter.
“Our future is dark and dangerous because the jihadists will live near us,” said Omar, who declined to give his surname for security reasons.
“They are a time bomb.”…
Ali al-Bayati, a member of Iraqi’s human rights commission, said the residents’ fears stemmed from a “lack of transparency”.
“Nobody knows if these people have been interrogated or if they were subject to an investigation,” he said.
“Before accepting them, [the authorities] should have ensured that none of them were charged or had committed crimes.”
Omar al-Husseini, a human rights activist from Mosul, expressed scepticism.
“The government must be cautious” because the families have spent years in the al-Hol camp under the influence of jihadists, he said….
For Omar the soldier, life with the returnees will be “impossible”.
“They have kept their extremist ideas,” he said.
gravenimage says
Iraq: Fear in Mosul as Islamic State families return, ‘They are a time bomb’
……………
Even Muslims are scared of more pious Muslims.
Giacomo Latta says
Apparently Iraqis understand Islam if Western politicians don’t.