Authorities confirm three Swiss jihadists held in northeast Syria
The Swiss nationals had gone missing following a prison assault and breakout in the city of Hasaka, in north-eastern Syria.
Keystone / Ahmed Mardnli
Three Swiss terror suspects who went missing in north-eastern Syria in January are being held in detention camps run by Kurdish authorities, the Swiss foreign ministry has confirmed.
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Autoridades confirmam três jihadistas suíços detidos na Síria
The three men, reportedly from Geneva, Lausanne and Orbe, went missing following a rescue attack in January by the Islamic State (IS) group on a jail in Hasaka in Kurdish-controlled Syria where they had been held.
However, the Swiss authorities say the three men – considered to be potentially dangerous – are now in Kurdish custody.
“It is good to know that they are in custody and therefore cannot try to return to Switzerland. This is exactly what Switzerland wants to prevent at all costs,” Johannes Matyassy, deputy state secretary at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, told Swiss public television SRFExternal link.
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In addition to the three imprisoned Swiss jihadists, there are two Swiss women in Kurdish camps for IS supporters – together with their children of school age.
Their fate remains unclear. In March 2019 the Swiss government decided on a strategy of not actively repatriating adult jihad fighters from Syria and Iraq, claiming motives of national security.
Authorities said the strategy was to prioritise legal proceedings in the countries where the jihadists had committed their crimes. Children can be repatriated in certain cases, such as the two half-sisters brought back to Geneva last year after having been taken by their mother to Syria in 2016.
Dual nationals who leave to fight for IS can meanwhile be stripped of their Swiss citizenship.
Thousands of foreigners including women and children had gone to Syria to live in Islamic State’s so-called caliphate until 2019, when US-backed Kurdish forces took the last pocket of Syrian territory from the jihadists.
In 2019, the Swiss government said some 20 Swiss nationals were being held in Syria and Iraq on terrorist charges.
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