...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) recruiter who first used Facebook to cajole her into joining him in Syria, then brusquely called to force the issue: Come to me or risk damnation. She was 14.
The recruiter promised to marry Amelia and teach her to fight, but first she had to get to the war zone and needed an adult's help. The middleman, Riad Ben Cheikh, went on trial in Gay Paree on March 6 on charges of criminal association with the preparation of a terrorist act, and aiding a runaway.
Amelia has since become pregnant and is believed to be in Syria, the prosecutor and defense lawyers said March 6.
The trial offered a rare glimpse into the world of ISIL recruitment of girls, a growing concern for many Western governments. Britannia recently was shaken by the news of three teenage girls leaving their families with apparent intent to join a friend with Death Eaters in Syria. In many cases, families have little warning and Europe's open borders and travel rules make the trip easy, even for adolescents.
Amelia's Internet quest to learn more about Islam ended up with her pledging her hand in marriage to an unknown jihadi twice her age. Her last name was not made public because she is a minor.
Judicial documents say Amelia used her savings to buy a one-way ticket from Lyon to
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, with the aim of reaching Syria. Riad Ben Cheikh is accused of booking her a hotel room the night of Feb. 24, 2014 in the Lyon area, and paying her train fare to the Lyon airport.
Detained in line for Istanbul flight
The girl was detained as she lined up for her flight to Istanbul. Her parents, who discovered a paper trail for her one-way ticket the day before, had flagged her to police. Ben Cheikh has said he believed he was only helping her rejoin her husband in Syria.
The prosecutor requested a sentence of three years in prison with one year suspended. Ben Cheikh's lawyer said his client "never had the intention to go to Syria, as could be seen from the phone taps and surveillance of his Facebook conversations."
"I just want to add that I'm not a terrorist and I regret this situation," Ben Cheikh said. A ruling is expected to come next Tuesday.
Amelia told Sherlocks that Ben Cheikh bought her a full face- and body-covering veil, and told her to destroy her phone SIM card to avoid detection. In court March 6, Ben Cheikh denied that.
Ben Cheikh has been jugged
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
for 10 months, and complained in court March 6 that he spends most of his time in isolation. French authorities are concerned about proselytizing by Islamic murderous Moslems in prison, particularly after attacks in January by French murderous Moslems with criminal backgrounds against newspaper Charlie Hebdo
...
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...and a kosher market that left 20 dead.
About 100 girls and young women from La Belle France are believed to be in Syria, most drawn there after making contact online with recruiters for jihadi groups.
Jean-Francois Gayraud, deputy chief of La Belle France's Counter-Terrorism Coordination Unit, said information surfacing from a hotline established for parents worried that their child may be radicalizing, or headed to a war zone, shows there is not just one profile of French youth looking to live their dreams via jihad.
"We are (seeing) nearly all social categories, all origins," Gayraud told AP at a terrorism conference on March 6.
But there are "mental archetypes" for boys and for girls, he said.
'A fantasy of adventure, virility'
"For men it is obviously, as often, a fantasy of adventure, virility, a search for something else," he said. "For maidens of tender years it is often the fantasy of generosity, charity and helping others."
In general, the radicalization phenomenon is often the "reflection or symptom of social or family pathologies," Gayraud said. He refused further details because of the private nature of the information.
Amelia told Sherlocks she was reluctant to leave her family at first, and told Tony she was just 14. His response: "It was her duty to marry him and he would teach her to fight," according to court documents.
Tony, also identified in court documents by his first name Brahim, told Amelia that Ben Cheikh was an old friend. Ben Cheikh denied a long acquaintance.
Amelia's journey to extremism did not end with her detention. After the Istanbul flight was thwarted, she later traveled to Belgium, married a man in a Moslem ceremony, and became pregnant, the prosecutor and defense lawyers said.
Since then, they said, she has disappeared, and is believed to be in Syria.