A 21-year-old Dutch Muslim convert who escaped from Iraq with her two children will remain in jail until her court case, judges in Rotterdam said on Thursday.

Laura Hansen, from Zoetermeer, has been held in the high security jail in Vught since last August, having fled via Kurdish territory with her two young children with the help of her father.

She claims she was tricked into going to Syria by her husband after the family left for what she believed was a holiday in Turkey. She has since renounced Islam.

The public prosecution department says it is examining all the options, including the possibility she was sent back to the Netherlands to carry out a terrorist attack and wants to keep her in jail while the investigation continues.

During Thursday’s hearing, Hansen wept as she asked officials to put her in a different prison to the terrorist wing in Vught, the NRC reported. ‘I’m tired, I am beginning to give up,’ she is quoted as saying from the closed area where she is giving evidence to protect her privacy.

Told that the public prosecution department wants to keep her in Vught until it completes its investigation, Hansen said ‘What do you want to know. What do I have to do. Please say something.’

Psychiatrists at the Pieter Baan assessment centre have already said they do not consider her to be a risk to public safety or a flight risk.