Jan 17, 2018

The wives and children of French jihadists captured in Syria have filed a legal complaint against French authorities for refusi

ng to repatriate them, their lawyers announced Wednesday.

The question of what to do with some 40 captured jihadists -- men and women, accompanied by around 20 children, who were living under the Islamic State group -- has been hotly debated in recent weeks.

The French government said on January 4 that those detained in Kurdish-held areas of Syria -- the vast majority of the cases -- should be left there so long as they can be guaranteed a fair trial.

But their lawyers argue that France has a duty to repatriate its citizens.