AFP
–
NOS News•today, 11:50
—
The Council of State has reversed a cabinet decision in which a female Syrian refugee was declared undesirable and her Dutch nationality was taken away. According to the highest judicial body, State Secretary Broekers-Knol of Justice and Security paid too little attention to the interests of Fatima H. and her minor children at the time.
–
The Council of State believes that the State Secretary has well substantiated in declaring H. undesired that she is a danger to national security, but the European Convention on Human Rights was not taken into account in the decision. It enshrines the right to a family and private life.
–
According to the Council, the State Secretary should have explicitly weighed the interests of the children and that has not happened. The children have Dutch nationality, have been living in the Netherlands since the end of 2019 and also attend school here. They are now between 5 and 7 years old.
–
Because the declaration of undesirability is linked to the decision to deprive the woman of her Dutch nationality, the Council also annulled that decision. The Ministry of Justice and Security has not yet responded.
–
Stayed in IS territory for years
Fatima H. left for Syria in 2013 and married an IS fighter there. They had two children. According to Dutch intelligence, she posed at the time with an automatic firearm and glorified the terrorist group’s methods online.
–
Until the beginning of 2019, she stayed in an area controlled by IS. In the spring, H. went to a Kurdish camp. At the end of October 2019, she was declared undesirable by the State Secretary and her nationality was revoked.
–
On the same day she presented herself with her two minor children to the Dutch embassy in Turkey, after which she traveled to the Netherlands a few weeks later with an emergency document. Since then, H. has been in prison in the Netherlands. Last year she was sentenced to four years in prison.
—
