Denmark repatriates mother, son from Syria detention camp

Denmark has repatriated a mother and her son from a Syrian detention camp, after years of refusals to return them to the country.

According to the Danish Foreign Ministry, the mother and her eight-year-old son arrived in Denmark on Thursday last week, following an agreement reached with local Kurdish authorities in north-east Syria where the infamous Al-Hol and Roj detention camps are located.

The repatriation comes three years after the Danish government offered in 2021 to repatriate all the Danish child nationals from the camps, as well as mothers who had Danish citizenship.

The now-eight-year-old boy was among those offered repatriation from Roj, but the mother was refused repatriation because her Danish citizenship had been revoked in 2020, due to her travel to Syria in 2014 – at the age of 16 – and alleged joining of the terror group, Daesh.

According to the Danish intelligence service, PET, she had received weapons and fighting training in Syria from the group. As for her son, he is the child of a dead Daesh militant.

Due to that decision by Copenhagen, she had refused to let her son be repatriated without her, but in August this year, Denmark’s Supreme Court ruled that the state had an obligation to repatriate both the mother and child.

The mother then agreed to the repatriation, and upon their arrival in Denmark, she was arrested for suspected terrorism while her son was handed over to social services.

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