A ” returnee ” asks to be repatriated. The jihadist Bryan D’Ancona (photo) reported to the consulate in Istanbul (Turkey) this week with an unusual request: He wants to return to France. The 26-year-old was one of the first French nationals to leave for Syria, reports franceinfo. He was one of the youngest to leave ten years ago.
At the age of 16, this convert to Islam embarked for Istanbul in 2013, from where he tried to reach Syria illegally. The former resident of Nice had never concealed the fact that he wanted to join the jihadists to fight alongside them, but was allegedly influenced by his religious mentor Omar Diaby. This “spiritual leader” was the leader of a group linked to Al-Qaeda that was active in north-western Syria.
Although Bryan D’Ancona had left the country, French intelligence always kept an eye on him. During the ten-year war, the young man had made numerous attempts to recruit young Frenchmen. On the spot, he is said to have married a compatriot in a religious way, who had also gone to Syria. The couple is said to have then settled in a camp near Idlib in the north-west of the country before separating.
Before their marriage broke up, the two emigrants had a daughter, whom Bryan D’Ancona is in the process of taking to France. However, the young man, who is the subject of an arrest warrant, risks being charged with “criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise” if he sets foot on French soil again.