French Mum of a jihadist gives moving testimony*
Her son died in Syria in January 2016. Denouncing the immobility of public authorities, she tries today to prevent such a tragedy happening to others. She says:
"Parents of radicalized children want to be heard and understood"
Issued from a Catholic tradition, she originally welcomed with tolerance the conversion of her son Quentin to Islam, feeling then that converting was not a crime and that he had met something that spoke to him. In 2012, there was no talk of radicalization . She says that If it had happened today, she would probably have been more suspicious.. She says:
"Some believe, when a youngster jumps into jihadism, that the whole family is an accomplice. Others suspect "deficient" parents. It's shameful to say that! It is society that is deficient. It was the world that gave birth to this monster Daech. Our children did not create it, they had the misfortune to meet it."
* "Quentin, what did they do with you? The struggle of a mother for her son who became a jihadist", by Véronique Roy, ed. Robert Laffont, 288 pages, 19 euros.
