Great open door policy in the Nordic states…….
Dozens of foreign fighters back in Denmark
Published: 06 Apr 2016 10:13 GMT+02:00
- Danish man charged for joining Isis in Syria (15 Dec 15)
- Danish Islamist tied to Paris attacks: report (11 Dec 15)
- Denmark blocks would-be militants from Syria (10 Dec 15)
According to the report, 125 foreign fighters are known to have left Denmark for Syria or Iraq. Of those, around 62 are believed to now be back in Denmark. At least 27 have died while fighting and around 31 are believed to still be in conflict areas.
The report also shines some light on the demographics of Denmark’s foreign fighters. The majority are Danish citizens who have varying ethnic backgrounds. The Justice Ministry however says that those leaving Denmark to join up with the terror group Isis are “mainly young Sunni Muslims”, including “a number of converts”.
The majority of foreign fighters come from Denmark’s three largest cities of Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense, and the report says that “half of the returnees are part of Islamist circles”. Some 90 percent of the foreign fighters are male and PET estimates that nearly half of those who have left Denmark have some sort of criminal record.