- Two women were arrested in Sweden after returning from Syria.
- Sweden accuses them of being associated with the Islamic State group.
- The third woman was taken away for questioning.
The Swedish police said on Monday that they arrested two women associated with the Islamic State group after flying back from Syria, because media reports said that one of the women was under investigation for war crimes.
Stockholm police spokesman Ola Osterling said that the prosecutors investigating the two women had ordered their arrests.
Read | New Zealand accepts women associated with Islamic State
“When the plane arrived in Stockholm in the afternoon, we implemented this decision,” Osterlin told AFP. He added that the third woman had been taken away for questioning.
The prosecutor issued a statement on Monday saying that it is conducting multiple investigations into men and women returning from areas controlled by the Islamic State Group (IS).
“The international crimes related to people returning from areas controlled by the Islamic State are war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity,” prosecutor Reena Devgun said in a statement.
“Sweden has an international commitment to investigate and prosecute these crimes,” she added.
The prosecutor added that it cannot comment on individual cases or the number of ongoing investigations.
However, the public broadcaster SVT reported that at least one arrested woman is under investigation for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
SVT also reported that the women who returned on Monday had been living in camps in northern Syria but were deported by Kurdish authorities after deciding that they did not have sufficient evidence to prosecute them.
Don’t miss a story. Choose from our newsletter Send the news you want directly to your inbox.
