Dutch authorities release teen rescued by mum from IS

THE HAGUE — A Dutch court on Tuesday ordered the provisional release of a young woman being probed on terrorism charges after her mother rescued her from Syria, where she had married an Islamic State fighter.

“The judge has decided to free Aicha if she adheres to certain conditions,” the Limburg regional court said in a statement.

A convert to Islam who travelled to Syria in February to marry an IS fighter she saw as a Robin Hood figure, Aicha, whose surname was not given, was arrested after landing back in the Netherlands with her mother Monique last Wednesday.

A judge on Friday had ordered Aicha to be detained pending possible terrorism charges, including taking part in a terrorist organisation.

The court declined to give the precise conditions for Aicha’s release, but said it broadly meant the 19-year-old — called Sterlina before she adopted an Arab name — should “not commit any crimes and adhere to any request by the police and justice officials”.

The Limburg court also declined to say exactly when the Aicha will be released, keeping her “personal interests at heart”.

European nations are increasingly concerned about returning jihadist fighters, but the question of what to do with women who travel to Iraq and Syria but do not fight is a thorny one.

The authorities have barred Monique and Aicha’s lawyers from talking to the press because of the sensitivity of the case.

Monique, 49, has previously told Dutch television how her daughter converted to Islam and began wearing a face-covering niqab.

Aicha travelled to Syria to join a Dutch-Turkish jihadist fighter who went to the war-torn country to train fighters for the IS group.

She later turned to her mother for help after her marriage failed and she ended up with a Tunisian fighter, the Dutch tabloid daily Algemeen Dagblad said.

The paper reported that a niqab-wearing Monique crossed the border into Syria and travelled to the IS stronghold city of Raqqa, but the Dutch prosecutor’s office said they had met at the Turkish-Syrian border.

Public prosecutors said that if Aicha were found to have fought alongside IS she could face up to 30 years in prison.