A Montrealer who had gone to join the Islamic State and who has been repatriated to the country will no longer have to return behind bars in Canada.
“I am grateful to have had a second chance for me, for my children. I hope I can bring the best for my family, “said, crying, Oumaima Chouay on Monday morning at the Montreal courthouse.
The 29 -year -old Montrealer pleaded guilty to an accusation of having participated in an activity of a terrorist group, almost three years after his return to the country.
She was 19 years old in 2014 when she decided to leave Quebec with a friend, now disappeared, to join the ranks of the Islamic State (ÉI). It went through Turkey before reaching Syria.
Within the caliphate, women were used to support their fighting husbands by preserving religious faith at home and educating their children, considered the next generation of combatants.
Oumaima Chouay married a German fighter less than a month after his arrival. The couple was offered a house in Mosul, Iraq, and a financial allowance.
She then told Canada to have no intention of returning to a country of kouffarsa term designating people who are not believers.
The accused, who is not suspected of having participated directly in the fighting, gave birth to her first child in late 2015. She then lived in various places under the control of the terrorist group, among others in Syria.
Prisoner in a camp
She finally wanted to leave the Islamic State two years later, while the armed group was defeated by an international coalition.
But Chouay, pregnant, and her child was captured by the Syrian democratic forces during their attempted flight.
After giving birth by Cesarean in a military hospital, Montrealer and her children were transferred to the Al-Roj camp in Syria, where they lived for five years in “terrible conditions” according to his lawyer, Dominique Shoofey.
The inhabitants of the al-Roj camp in Syria were to live in these canvas tents whatever the weather conditions.
Photo AFP
“It could encourage someone to radicalize. But she returned here with the desire to work on her personal and social rehabilitation. His primary goal is his family, his children, ”insisted the criminalist.
Repatriated to Canada
Oumaima Chouay was finally repatriated to Canada in October 2022 and was immediately accused of various terrorism leaders.
After 110 days in detention, she could be released respecting strict conditions, including a curfew and wearing a GPS bracelet.
According to recent reports, the one who studies at CEGEP no longer believes in the ideology of the EI. Its risk of recurrence and its dangerousness are extremely low.
“This is a very exceptional case,” said the prosecutor of the Federal Crown, Carly Norris.
This is why judge Geneviève Graton agreed to condemn Oumaima Chouay to a sentence of a day of detention and a three -year probation, where she will have to continue her depolarization therapy.
