Swedish police said on Monday that they had arrested two women linked to the Islamic State after they flew back from Syria, as the media reported that one was being investigated for war crimes.
Stockholm police spokesman Ola Osterling said that the prosecutor who led the investigation of the two women had ordered their arrest.
– We implemented that decision when the plane arrived in Stockholm in the afternoon, Osterling says to AFP. A third woman had been taken in for questioning, he added.
A statement from the prosecutor’s office on Monday said several investigations were under way against men and women returning from areas controlled by the Islamic State.
“The international crimes that are relevant to people returning from IS-controlled areas are war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity,” prosecutor Reena Devgun said in the statement.
“Sweden has an international commitment to investigate and prosecute these crimes,” she added.
The prosecutor’s office added that it could not comment on individual cases or the number of ongoing investigations.
But the public broadcaster SVT reported that at least one of the arrested women is being investigated for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
SVT also reported that the women who had returned on Monday had been in camps in northern Syria but were deported after Kurdish authorities decided they did not have enough evidence to prosecute them.