A special criminal court in Paris has sentenced a 30-year-old Frenchwoman to 10 years in prison for her role in a terrorist conspiracy linked to the Islamic State group.
The woman, Carole Sun, was convicted after judges ruled that her activities went beyond passive association and amounted to deliberate participation in extremist operations.
Sun was among French nationals repatriated from detention camps in northeastern Syria, where families connected to IS fighters were held following the group’s military collapse.
She returned to France in July 2022 as part of a government-led effort to bring citizens back for prosecution.
Court details ties to key IS figures
During proceedings, prosecutors outlined Sun’s close proximity to senior IS members, noting that she lived alongside individuals implicated in violence and attacks connected to the November 2015 Paris atrocities.
Judges also referenced her marriage to an IS intelligence operative currently jailed in Iraq, as well as her brother’s involvement with the group.
“The court is satisfied that the defendant knowingly embedded herself within a violent terrorist structure,” the presiding judge said.
Radicalisation, regret and wider prosecutions
Sun told the court she had been radicalised through online networks and admitted contributing to extremist propaganda.
She described life inside the camps as brutal and chaotic, particularly for children raised in the environment.
“It was a place where fear and ideology shaped everything,” she said.
French prosecutors confirmed that dozens of similar cases remain pending, with several women already tried since 2017 as authorities continue to address the legal aftermath of the Syrian conflict.
