Joanna Palani, 23, is facing up to two years in prison and had her passport confiscated upon her return home in Copenhagen last year – for breaking national laws preventing citizens from fighting for foreign countries. 3 The Iraqi-born Dane had her passport confiscated upon returning to Europe
Shortly after her passport was confiscated, she wrote on her Facebook page: “How can I pose a threat to Denmark and other countries by being a soldier in an official army that Denmark trains and supports directly in the fight against [Isis]?”
Police slapped her with 12-month travel ban by email in a bid to stop her from travelling back to the so-called Islamic State.
But after admitting to travelling to Qatar this year, brave Joanna was taken into custody and locked up in Denmark’s largest prison, Vestre Fængsel in Copenhagen.
Denmark has suffered an epidemic of brainwashed citizens fleeing to fight for ISIS – the second highest per head of population in Europe behind Belgium.
As a result, the Scandinavian country has introduced laws blocking passports belonging to those they believe pose “a substantial threat to public order”.
Yet, the liberal nation favours ‘deracialising’ returning ISIS killers and instead of locking them up, the government hands them jobs and psychological counselling.
Representing Joanna, lawyer Erbil Kaya slammed the decision to jail her calling it “hypocritical”.
Speaking with the Guardian, Kaya said: “It’s a shame. We are the first country in the world to punish a person who has been fighting on the same side as the international coalition.
“It’s hypocritical to punish her. Why don’t we punish the people who fight for ISIS instead of people who are fighting on the same side as Denmark? I don’t think it makes sense.”
Joanna, who will attend another hearing this week, could face two years in prison.
The daughter of Iranian Kurds, the courageous soldier was born in an Iraqi refugee camp in 1993 before her family moved to Denmark when she was aged three.
She told the Guardian that she went to Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, “to fight for women’s rights, for democracy – for the European values I learned as a Danish girl”.
In an interview with Vice this year, she said that “ISIS fighters are very easy to kill”.
She also blasted the Danish government calling her passport confiscation a “betrayal.”
Joanna has also received death threats from extremists following her return to Denmark
She said: “It’s very difficult for me, as there many people who are against me still in Copenhagen – some IS people.
“It’s hard for me to get a job as PET (Danish counter terrorism) have been calling employers telling them I am a threat to national security, so it doesn’t seem like anyone is on my side.”
No comments:
Post a Comment