ISIS Babies Born to Jihadist Fighters Languish in Limbo, Prison
A man is fighting to get his 2-year-old grandson trapped in a prison in Libya as his parents died fighting for the Islamic State (ISIS). The condition of the toddler highlights the state of hundreds of children of ISIS foreign fighters who are now in limbo and facing a bleak future.
Faouzi Trabelsi of Tunisia has visited his grandson Tamim Jaboudi twice with the intent of taking him home. But his government doesn't want to deal with the militia that controls Tripoli where the prison is located.
"What is this young child's sin that he is in jail with criminals?" he asked in desperation. "If he grows up there, what kind of attitude will he have toward his homeland?"
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The boy is the son of Trabelsi's daughter, Samah. After marrying a young man from their community in Tunis, the newlyweds joined ISIS along with approximately 3,000 Tunisians. They went to Turkey, a known jump-off point for Europeans and North Africans who want to join the terror group.
Tamim was born in Turkey on April 30, 2014. The family returned to Tunisia but left again for neighboring Libya. Trabelsi learned recently that his daughter and son-in-law were among 40 people killed in a U.S. airstrike at an ISIS training camp in Sabratha, Libya in February 2016.
Six months later, he learned of his grandson's whereabouts. Tamim is living among two dozen Tunisian women and their children in Mitiga prison where he is being raised by a woman who also joined ISIS. The boy has celebrated his birthday there and will do so again later this month.
Trabelsi went to see his grandson only to realize he had grown closer and fonder to the warden.
"He is clean, he is in good shape. They told me they bring him out to play and see other children," he told Associated Press. "But he should be allowed back. He is in a prison."
ISIS encouraged its members to reproduce to populate its emerging caliphate. It is estimated that as many as 31,000 women were pregnant during the period.
"In the long term, there is the new generation of ISIS... These are the newborns, the children of the marriages," said Mohammed Iqbel of the Association of Tunisians Trapped Abroad. "And if we don't save them, they will be a new generation of terrorism."
