France: Suing the government for failing to keep their child.

(Baonghean.vn) - After her son left to join the jihad in Syria in 2013, a mother in France decided to take the matter to court. She sued the French government in administrative court and demanded compensation for failing to prevent her son from leaving the country.

Foreign jihadist fighters in Syria (Internet source).

On December 27, 2013, B, a 16-year-old boy, after spending Christmas with his mother and three siblings, decided to leave Nice to fight in Syria. It is known that three other young men from Nice also went to Syria with B. According to his mother, after converting to Islam, B showed no signs of extremism. His mother believes he boarded a plane to Istanbul to go to Syria because that was where he often looked for refuge and had called before leaving home.

Samia Maktouf, the lawyer representing the mother, stated that the police bear primary responsibility for the child's departure from home to join the jihadist movement. She argued that police at Nice airport and the border failed to address the fact that a minor was leaving French territory for Türkiye – a region known as a gateway to Syria. According to the lawyer, the police acted in a serious and ill-advised manner by allowing an unaccompanied minor with no luggage to enter Türkiye so easily.

Arguing that the police failed to perform their duties properly, B's mother requested the Paris Administrative Court to order the government to pay 110,000 euros in compensation for the damages suffered by her family. Lawyer Samia added that the compensation amount was not the family's primary goal. According to Samia, the ultimate goal of the victim's family was to raise awareness of the existing flaws within the government that allowed many young people to leave the country and participate in jihad abroad.

Following the lawsuit filed by the B family, the French Ministry of Interior sent a letter in response refusing compensation. The Ministry of Interior argued that its employee was not at fault because B had undergone a thorough check and his identity card was perfectly valid to allow him to leave the country.

Although the B family's lawsuit against the government was unsuccessful, it serves as a wake-up call to many families in France in particular and Europe in general. According to reports, France is one of the European countries with the most citizens participating in jihad abroad. The French government estimates that around 500 of its citizens are fighting in Syria, and there are as many as 1,864 cases of extremist minors in France.

Chu Thanh – according to Le Monde