Riad Ben Cheikh is accused of aiding a 14-year-old runaway girl trying to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) by arranging her travel. He is currently on trial on terrorism charges. The girl made contact with an ISIL recruiter using Facebook and he convinced her to join him in Syria after promising to marry her and teach her to fight. Ben Cheikh reportedly booked a hotel and paid for her transportation to the airport where she was detained while trying to board a flight to Istanbul.
France has increased its surveillance and crackdown on ISIL and Al-Qaeda supporters since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January. European countries have struggled to manage an increase in its residents traveling to the Middle East to become foreign fighters.
