French woman tried for 2014 shotgun attack on jihadist husband in Syria faces Paris trial
Vanessa B., a 38-year-old French mother, is on trial in Paris for attempting to kill her ISIS-linked husband with a shotgun in Rakka in 2014.
A Paris special assise court is set to examine the case of Vanessa B., a 38-year-old French mother who, in the spring of 2014, shot her husband Mohamed S. with a shotgun he had given her as a wedding gift. The attack took place in Rakka, the de-facto capital of the Islamic State, leaving Mohamed S. gravely injured and sparing Vanessa B. from a death sentence under the group’s law. The trial, postponed from an earlier June schedule, will consider three charges: terrorist criminal association, compromising the safety and education of her children, and attempted murder of a concubine.
Vanessa B. is the sole French returnee being prosecuted for a murder attempt carried out on Syrian soil. The proceedings highlight the French judiciary’s handling of crimes linked to foreign terrorist territories and domestic violence within such contexts.
Why it matters
The trial shows how French courts address terrorism-related domestic crimes committed abroad.
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