– We believe that she took her son to an IS-controlled area. She has said that she did not know much about the caliphate and IS, but we do not believe that, Judge Thed Adelswärd told Swedens radio after the verdict had been read out.
He points out, among other things, that the woman had sold gold and jewelery before she left. She had also told friends that she wanted to go to the caliphate, he says. In court, screenshots of things a woman had written on Facebook were also presented.
Compensation for father and son
The woman was accused of taking the child with her against her father’s will. Both he and his son have been awarded compensation.
The father thought the woman and the child were going on holiday to Turkey and helped so that the two-year-old got a passport. Then it would be six years before he got to see his son again.
The woman, who is now 31 years old, has explained that she was in a life crisis when she traveled to Syria. She wanted to seek comfort and her god and has said that she was captured by the terrorist group IS. In an interview with Swedish Television she has said that she thought you could travel in and out of Syria as you wanted.
– But I was taken and brought to a house full of women. Then they took the phone from me. I would never have put my son in danger. If I had known what I know now, I would not have left, she said.
Managed to escape
She says she did not follow politics and that she did not know that IS, among other things, carried out public executions. She managed to escape from IS and then ended up in a Kurdish refugee camp. Then she was moved to the al-Hol camp, but managed to get from there to Turkey. there she was taken home to Sweden and arrested.
She is thus convicted of having taken the child with her away from the father and not of having joined a terrorist organization. One year ago, Sweden got a new and stricter terror law, but so far no one has been arrested or prosecuted under this new law.
Today, the boy’s father has sole care for the child.
The woman is suspected of war crimes in a separate investigation where no charges have been brought.
The Swedish Security Police estimates that around 300 people traveled from Sweden to join IS in Syria and Iraq in the period 2015 to 2018. Probably around 160 of them have returned home.
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