Mother who was to send underage twins to Syria to fight jailed by judge

A High Court judge has indefinitely jailed the mother of two underage twins, after the arrest of all three on Tuesday on suspicion that the 16-year-olds were going to be sent by their parents to Syria to take part in combat there. The woman is facing charges of collaborating with a terrorist association, and is believed by Judge Pablo Ruz to have “facilitated the arrangements” for both to be sent abroad.

The 16-year-old twins were reportedly being radicalized with their mother’s knowledge

The magistrate also arranged for the release of the father of the twins, although his passport has been confiscated and he will have to report to a court on a weekly basis. He has been named as an official suspect for collaboration with a terrorist organization.

The two youngsters will soon be sent before a court for minors, after having been questioned by the public prosecutor.

The court proceedings and the testimony of the suspects are currently sealed.

The Civil Guard carried out a dawn raid on Tuesday to arrest the four members of the same family in Badalona, Barcelona. The 16-year-old twins, who dropped out of school in Badalona, outside Barcelona, to take up Koran studies in Tétouan, Morocco, were reportedly about to be sent to Syria to join the ranks of Islamic State (ISIS), and were being radicalized with their mother’s knowledge.

One of their brothers, called Yassin Atanji, died last year fighting alongside Harakat Sham al Islam, a jihadist group in Syria also known as Islamic Movement of the Levant, which is made up mostly of Moroccans.