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Denmark to evacuate mother and two children from Syrian prison camp

Ritzau/The Local
Ritzau/The Local - [email protected]
Denmark to evacuate mother and two children from Syrian prison camp
An illustration file photo of the al-Hol displacement camp in Syria's Hasaka governorate. Photo: Ali Hashisho/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

A mother and her two children are to be offered evacuation from a Kurdish-run prison camp in northeastern Syria, the Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration said on Friday.

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The woman is of Moroccan background and her children are Danish.

“The government has, after a renewed, overall assessment, decided to offer evacuation to another two children and the children’s mother – regardless of the question of the mother’s citizenship,” Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek said in a written comment.

“This is a case of an overall assessment where connection to Denmark was one of the considerations. It is no secret that the government parties have differing views on this issue,” he added.

The coalition government has been reported to be in disagreement over whether to repatriate Danish children from the al-Roj prison camp in northern Syria, even if it means their mothers, who are not Danish nationals or whose citizenships have been revoked, are evacuated with them.

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The mothers are in the camps because they have been sympathisers of the Islamic State (Isis) terror group or spouses of Isis militants.

READ ALSO: Danish government split over repatriation of women and children from Syria

Human rights organisations have in the past expressed strong concerns over the conditions at the al-Roj and al-Hol prison camps and Denmark has faced criticism for not evacuating children there who have connections to Denmark.

A Danish-Iraqi woman who was also in the camp with her two children was offered repatriation in March after the Danish Supreme Court overruled an immigration ministry decision to revoke her citizenship, meaning she regained the right to be evacuated.  She was expected to be prosecuted by Denmark under terrorism laws on her return to the country.

A third mother, who is from Somalia but whose child has Danish nationality claims, has not been offered evacuation. The government has offered to evacuate the child without its mother. The mother has a twin sister who has also not been offered evacuation.

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