PARIS — A 16-year-old boy travels from France to Syria via Turkey without a passport – and without being challenged by French authorities. He ends up training as a terrorist. Is the French government at fault?
His mother says yes. And she may have a case.
Nadine D says her son, known by a pseudonym, Dylan, left home last year and allegedly joined a group of fighters affiliated with Jabhat al-Nusra, a militant group allied with Al Qaeda. In mid-November, she filed a complaint at Paris’s Administrative Court claiming state negligence and seeking damages of 110,000 euros ($136,000). She says French border police should have been more suspicious of a minor traveling on his French ID card to Turkey, given that it's a popular transit route for jihadists in Syria.