Trump's 'bring jihadists home' call gets mixed response in Europe

Donald Trump’s demand that Germany, France and Britain repatriate and prosecute their citizens fighting in Syria has met a mixed response in Europe as countries baulk at the difficulties involved in taking back hundreds of alleged jihadists.

Germany pledged on Monday to put its foreign fighters on trial, but warned their repatriation would be “extremely difficult”, while France said it would not act for now on Trump’s call but would take militants back “case by case”.

Germany “must be able to ensure prosecution is possible”, the German defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen, said. But the evidence and witness statements needed would be difficult to obtain in Syria as long as there was no government in place with which Berlin had “a sensible relationship”, she said.

The German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said repatriation would be possible only if returning fighters could be immediately taken into custody, which would be “extremely difficult to achieve” without proper judicial information.

The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) hold hundreds of suspected foreign Islamic State jihadists, as well as their wives and children, and are battling the group’s remaining fighters in an enclave of less than half a square kilometre near the Iraqi border.

Kurdish-led authorities on Monday described the detainees as a “timebomb”, saying fighters could escape if the Kurdish-led autonomous area came under attack. A spokesman said they would not intentionally free foreign Isis detainees but countries must take responsibility for them.

Trump tweeted on Sunday that Britain, France, Germany and other European allies should “take back over 800 Isis fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial”. He warned that the alternative would be to release them, and the US “does not want to watch as these Isis fighters permeate Europe”.

But bringing back foreign fighters, their wives and children “is certainly not as easy as they think in America”, Maas told reporters at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Few European countries have embassies in Syria or Iraq or extradition treaties to get their citizens back. Proving people’s identity, and collecting the evidence against suspected fighters that would stand up in a European court, are almost impossible.

“German citizens have the right to return,” Maas said, and some “humanitarian cases” – women and children – have. But in the case of alleged jihadists, it can only be possible “if it is ensured that they can immediately be detained”, which needs “information, investigations, which are not in place”.

France, whose nationals make up the largest contingent of European Isis recruits, has previously refused categorically to take back fighters and their wives, of whom 150 are thought to be in Syria. The foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, referred to them as “enemies” of the nation who should face justice in Syria or Iraq.

Nicole Belloubet, the justice minister, said on Monday the US withdrawal had created “a new geopolitical context” but for the time being France was not changing its policy. “At this stage France is not responding to [Trump’s] demands” to take back hundreds of militants, but would do so case by case, she said.

Britain has said its fighters can return only if they seek consular help in Turkey, but acknowledges it faces a dilemma, especially concerning wives and children, and a major challenge either to prosecute the fighters or prevent them from undertaking terrorist acts in their homeland.

Belgium’s justice minister, Koen Geens, on Sunday called for a “European solution”, urging “calm reflection and a look at what would pose the least security risks”. But the Hungarian foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, said the issue was “one of the greatest challenges ahead of us for the upcoming months”.

European countries’ “major endeavour now should be not to allow them to come back to Europe”, Szijjártó said.