France awards damages to parents of girl who went to Syria

The highest court in France has ordered the French state to pay 15,000 euros to the parents of an under-age girl who left France for Syria to join Islamist fighters. Confirming its ruling on Twitter, the Council of State said the parents had a right to compensation due to a failure of border controls. Le CE ordonne l’indemnisation des parents d’une jeune femme mineure ayant quitté la France pour la Syrie : https://t.co/ezOVzvSbCa pic.twitter.com/7Z2kG1SefO— Conseil d‘État (@Conseil_Etat) April 26, 2017 The girl flew out of Orly, one of the two main Paris airports, in November 2013 even though she was on a wanted list of missing people since leaving her parents’ home in June. The court said police negligence constituted an error which brought into question the state’s responsibility. The girl boarded a flight for Istanbul before later entering Syria, even though French law prevents minors from leaving the country without parental approval. The court didn’t say whether the girl had managed to join Islamist extremists or whether she was now back in France. It added that the Interior Ministry had not shown that she had tricked the authorities in any way.