Court quashes complaint against French govt. on teenager joining Takfiri terrorists

The court on Tuesday threw away the case, turning down a request for 110,000 euros ($125,000) in compensation.
 
The 16-year-old boy left Nice in southern France for Turkey late December 2013 and then reached Syria overland to join the Takfiri terrorists.
 
The mother had argued that the French security forces acted negligently by failing to stop her boy, as he had only a one-way ticket and no baggage. She had also argued that Turkey was “notorious as the route to enter Syria.”
 
The court ruled, however, that the airport officers had no case to answer, saying, “These circumstances are not enough to demonstrate the police service was at fault.”
 
The court also said that the mother did not apply to stop her boy leaving the country as she could, based on laws enacted since January 2013, which enables the parents to do so in case of minors. It said the boy “fulfilled the legal conditions to leave the territory for the destination of Turkey,” as his name was neither on any police watchlist nor was he barred from leaving France.
 
The French Interior Ministry had earlier rejected claims that the government was responsible for the boy’s departure, saying authorities would have had no legal basis to stop him at the airport.
 
Officials in Paris estimate that at least 500 French nationals are currently engaged in the armed militancy in Syria. The French government reportedly only stops those about whom it receives prior information from the families.