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PARIS: A French court on Friday handed jail sentences of up to 13 years to three women for joining the Daesh group in Syria, including the niece of notorious jihadist propagandist brothers.
Jennyfer Clain, 34, whose uncles Jean-Michel and Fabien Clain had publicly claimed responsibility on behalf of Daesh for the Paris attacks on November 13, 2015, was sentenced to 11 years for belonging to Daesh.
Her sister-in-law, Mayalen Duhart, 42, was given 10 years and 67-year-old Christine Allain, the women’s mother-in-law, 13 years.
Earlier in court, Jennyfer Clain had apologized to all “direct and indirect victims” of the jihadists, “in France, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.”
The Daesh group seized swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq during the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011 and left hundreds of thousands dead, and loudly took responsibility for atrocities around the world.
During the worst attack on Paris since World War II, jihadist gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people at the Bataclan concert hall and elsewhere.
The Clain brothers are presumed to have died during the military campaign by US-backed Kurdish groups that eventually defeated IS in 2019.
Three years later, the siblings were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment without parole.
“I am not asking them to forgive me, it is unforgivable, but I offer them my deepest and most sincere apologies,” Jennyfer Clain said, referring to the victims.
Jennyfer Clain went to the Middle East with four children, and her fifth baby was born in Raqqa, the city Daesh militants claimed as their capital.
Duhart brought her four children with her and had a baby there, who died at seven months.
Weeping in court, Jennyfer Clain asked her five children, who have been placed in foster care since their return to France in 2019, for forgiveness.
“I am sorry for everything they have been through because of me,” said Clain, who is also on trial for abandoning minors. “I have failed in my role as a mother.”
“I am not a victim,” Duhart said. “The victims are the others, those who were tortured and massacred by the organization I belonged to. I am responsible.”
Earlier this week the presiding judge had pointed out to the three women that they had not said anything about the victims of the attacks.
Allain said that she had been touched by her meeting in prison with Georges Salines, the father of Lola Salines, one of the victims killed at the Bataclan.
Jennyfer Clain’s lawyer, Guillaume Halbique, welcomed the “balanced” verdict for his client, adding she was unlikely to appeal.
“Her ideological commitment (to Daesh) is completely behind her and has been for many years,” he added.

INDIA: India's Russian-built MiG-21s flew for the final time Friday, marking the end of an era for the country's first supersonic fighter jet -- lauded for its valour but tarnished by a legacy of some 400 crashes.

Crowds cheered as officials staged a grand farewell for the final two MiG-21 squadrons, totalling around 36 aircraft, at an air force base in the northern city of Chandigarh.

The send-off came a day after New Delhi signed a $7-billion deal to acquire 97 domestically designed and built Tejas jets as it seeks to modernise its Soviet-era fleet.

The farewell ceremony included a mock dogfight between Russian MiGs and a colourful display by the Surya Kiran aerobatic team.

The retired jets will likely be put up for public display, though the government has yet to announce any plans.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh, senior air force officials, including veterans who piloted the MiG-21, watched as the storied aircraft made their last pass.

First inducted in the 1960s, India operated a staggering 874 MiG-21s.

Plans to retire them in the 1990s were repeatedly delayed amid local production setbacks, bureaucratic obstacles and corruption scandals.

"MiG-21's legacy is undeniable. It was a capable -- if flawed -- fighter that formed the Indian Air Force's backbone for decades," former Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar told AFP on the sidelines of the event.

He credited a key MiG-21 bombing campaign for hastening India's victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh.

But age caught up with the Soviet-era jet.

'FLYING COFFIN'

"Designed for simplicity, the MiG-21 was meant to be rugged but faltered as it aged," Nambiar said.

Engine flameouts, hydraulic failures, and electrical faults were frequent and with no backup systems, emergency landings and ejections became all too common, he added.

The MiG-21's grim reputation earned it the infamous "flying coffin" moniker in its later years.

Over roughly 40 years, 482 MiG crashes were recorded, claiming the lives of 171 pilots in India as of 2012, according to defence ministry figures.

"It's time to let it go -- not as a flawless icon, but as a sobering reminder of the sacrifices made by those who flew it," Nambiar said.

With the MiG-21's retirement, India, the world's fifth-largest economy, is set to intensify its push for domestic arms production and new international partnerships.

In April, India signed a multi-billion-dollar deal to purchase 26 Rafale fighter jets from France's Dassault Aviation. They will join 36 Rafale fighters already acquired.

India is also working with a French company to develop and manufacture fighter jet engines at home.

Angad Singh, co-author of a book on the MiGs, told AFP the country faced an "unenviable position" given its current fighter shortfall.

He, however, added that India was putting its full weight behind the improved Tejas aircraft and was in talks to buy another 114 Rafales.

Regional security concerns loom large for India, especially after an intense four-day clash with arch-rival Pakistan in May, their worst standoff since 1999.

Both sides claimed victory, each boasting of downing the other's fighter jets.