France sentences woman to 9 years in prison for joining ISIS in Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A French court sentenced on Saturday a woman to nine years in prison for joining the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.
Farrah Zerari, a 34-year-old Frenchwoman, was sentenced to nine years in prison by a special criminal court in Paris after being prosecuted three times for joining a jihadist organization in Syria through a British network, AFP reported.
Zerari was arrested in January 2021, nearly two years after returning to France.
She married Choukri Ellekhlifi in Atmeh, a town in the north of Idlib, northwestern Syria, in 2013. According to British press reports, he was affiliated with the al-Nusra Front and had associated with Mohammed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John, an ISIS militant from the so-called “Beatles” group.
As for Zerari’s second husband, Youssef Hassouni, authorities believe he is associated with ISIS.
With her conviction, she becomes the twentieth woman in France to be sentenced for joining a terrorist organization since 2012.