As fears rise that ISIS members from Europe would return following the elimination of the gangs for the most part, Iraqi courts have sentenced the wife of a French gang member to life in prison.

In a hearing held in Baghdad, Djamila Boutoutaou who travelled to Turkey with her children in 2014 and then joined ISIS was sentenced to life in prison.

As her defense, Djamila Boutoutaou said she went to Turkey with her children “for a vacation”. The female gang member said her husband, who she later learned to have joined ISIS, tricked her and asked her to cross into Iraq. Boutoutaou argued that she had been forced to join the gangs against her will.

The French gang member said the man who took them to Iraq from Istanbul was called Ebu Qurtubi, but didn’t give any other details. She also claimed she didn’t see her husband, who was killed near Mosul.

There are many known ISIS member French citizens arrested in Iraq and Rojava. French Ministry of Justice had announced in previous months that they would accept these gang members to be put on trial in local courts in Rojava.