Austria to repatriate IS woman and children after court verdict
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A Vienna court on Friday ordered that an Austrian woman who joined the Islamic State group in Syria be repatriated along with two children she bore to jihadist fighters there.
The Austrian administrative court ordered their return "in the greater interest of the children", it said in a judgment sent to AFP.
The woman left Austria in 2017 aged 17 and had children with two IS fighters, the courts heard previously. They did not state the children's ages.
She is now living with the children in a Kurdish-run detention camp following the fall of Islamic State in 2019.
The Austrian foreign ministry had previously rejected her request to be repatriated, saying that only the children would be accepted.
It said she was not entitled to consular assistance as she had willingly joined IS. It also cited security concerns for its staff.
The woman refused to be separated from her children and applied to the Austrian courts.
She faces trial on her return on charges of belonging to a terrorist group.
The government has six weeks to appeal the judgment.
In 2019 Austria repatriated two orphans, 18 months and three years of age. They were brought from Syria and handed over to their grandmother in Vienna.
Two other children were likewise repatriated to Austria in 2022 after their mother agreed to be separated from them.