Chronically ill French woman dies at northeast Syria camp

A chronically ill French woman died at a camp in northeast Syria on Tuesday, sparking fresh outrage over the seemingly indefinite detention of Islamic State group-linked detainees and their children.

The 28-year-old woman, who suffered from severe diabetes lived at Roj camp, where foreign IS-linked women and children are held.

Her lawyer, Marie Dose, said she had written to the French Presidency and government "dozens of times" since March 2019 to warn that her client was gravely ill, but had received no responses.

Her health deteriorated markedly at the start of 2021, leaving her unable to move for spells and in need of dialysis.

The woman, who left France for Syria in 2014, leaves behind an orphaned six-year-old daughter. The young girl is one of about 200 French children stranded at the camps, where approximately 60,000 people live in crowded, squalid conditions.

The death has provoked human rights groups to renew their calls for countries to repatriate their nationals held at the camps.

"The UK Government is abandoning British families in these life-threatening conditions," London-headquartered human rights charity Reprieve said.

"How many will die before it changes this senseless policy?"

The Kurdish-led authorities that run the camps have urged countries to take back their citizens, but Western countries in particular say they pose a security risk.