MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s High Court on Wednesday imprisoned two Spanish women who were repatriated earlier this week from detention camps in Syria while prosecutors investigate whether they were part of Islamic State.
Spain has committed to repatriating several Spanish women and children who are among thousands of foreigners that have been living in overcrowded detention camps run by Kurdish authorities and international charities after Islamic State’s so-called caliphate ended in 2019.
Judge Santiago Pedraz ordered that Yolanda Martinez and Luna Fernandez should be jailed pending further investigation after considering there was a flight risk as well as an “evident” risk of reoffending.
Both women allegedly participated in activities in favour of Islamic State before and after moving to the area of Syria and Iraq with their husbands in 2014, according to the High Court.
The judge ruled that the women could maintain custody of their 13 children, arguing that they could not be indoctrinated from prison.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo; editing by Charlie Devereux, Alexandra Hudson)
