Switzerland indicts woman for ‘jihadi travelling’

The woman was suspected of trying to join jihadist militants in Syria.

Swiss federal prosecutors have indicted a 30-year-old Swiss woman from the Zurich area suspected of trying to join up with jihadist militants in Syria, they said on Thursday.

Passengers pass through a metal detector in this representational image. (AFP)

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said it had proof that the woman in December 2015 travelled illegally with her four-year-old child from Egypt to Greece, intending to go to Syria via Turkey to join the Islamic State. Greek authorities prevented the woman from traveling onward, and she was arrested at Zurich airport in January 2016.

“The present indictment must be considered within the overall context of the OAG’s strict policy...of prosecuting all jihadi travellers,” the OAG said in a statement.