German woman suspected of IS ties arrested after deportation from Turkey

Turkey began deporting Islamic State members and suspects in its custody this week.

2 min read

16 November, 2019

The woman is alleged to have joined IS in 2014 [Getty]

A German woman suspected of ties to the Islamic State militant group was detained as soon as she landed in Germany after being expelled from Turkey, prosecutors said on Saturday.

The woman, identified as Nasim A., was deported from Turkey with another woman and was detained at Frankfurt airport on Friday, the federal prosecutor's office said.

Turkey began expelling foreign IS members and suspects on Monday, having warned it would repatriate detainees from the extremist group in its custody even if they had been stripped of their citizenship.

Ankara has criticised Western countries for refusing to repatriate their citizens who left to join IS in Syria and Iraq.

Some countries have been particularly reticient, with France and the United Kingdom insisting that IS suspects should be tried in the countries where their alleged crimes were committed. The UK has also stripped around 100 people of their citizenship over ties to the extremist group.

Nasim A. is accused of having travelled to Syria in late 2014 to live in IS territory. She married an IS fighter in early 2015 and later settled in Iraq.

The federal prosecutor alleges she took care of the household and received around $100 per month in cash so her husband could be available to fight for the extremist group.

She is also accused of owning a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

The couple later returned to Syria, where she was arrested in early 2019 by Kurdish security forces.

She was due on Saturday to appear before the Federal Court which could issue a formal arrest warrant and order her detention on remand.

Turkey on Thursday also deported a man with suspected extremist connections and his family to Germany.

Berlin city authorities said the man was arrested on arrival.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said earlier this month that Turkey had 1,200 foreign Islamic State militants in its custody, 287 of whom had been captured after Ankara launched its recent operation in northeastern Syria.