Halima Salman, a 27-year-old American woman, has been convicted of receiving military training from the Daesh group in Syria.
The case underscores the complex challenges Western governments face regarding foreign women who traveled to Daesh-controlled territory, married fighters, and now await repatriation.
NEW YORK: An American woman who joined the Daesh group before being captured by opposing forces in Syria was found guilty on Tuesday of receiving military training from the jihadists.
Halima Salman, 27, was among hundreds of foreign women who went to—or were taken to—territory controlled by Daesh. Many married jihadist fighters before being captured and detained while awaiting repatriation.
The situation of these women and their children remains a contentious issue for the Western countries where they originated. Many remain trapped abroad or have been stripped of their citizenship by their former homelands.
Salman’s mother is an American, and her family traveled from the United States to Syria when she was young.
Prosecutors said Salman was convicted of receiving military-type training from Daesh at age 18, an offense that carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date.
At 17, she traveled to a Daesh-controlled area of Syria in late 2016 or early 2017, transiting through Russia and Türkiye.
“While in Syria, Salman was trained to use an assault rifle and received ammunition from a Daesh military battalion when she was 18,” prosecutors alleged in a statement.
Court documents show that while in Syria, she married Abu Ali, a German-Afghan Daesh fighter.
In early 2019, Syrian forces opposed to Daesh took Salman into custody. She was held in a relocation camp until 2024, when she returned to the United States and was arrested.
“With today’s verdict, Salman is held accountable for joining forces with a terrorist organization,” said United States Attorney Anthony Nocella.
“ISIS ravaged Syria and caused havoc across the globe; our office will continue to prosecute those who supported its murderous reign,” Nocella added.
Salman’s defense attorney argued that she was “the victim of her (mother’s husband) bringing her as a child to Daesh territory in Syria,” and that she was unaware of the man’s pro-Daesh beliefs.
A U.S.-led coalition was deployed to Iraq and Syria in 2014 to combat Daesh, which had seized vast territory, carried out massacres, and forced thousands of women and children into slavery.
Kurdish authorities currently hold approximately 2,200 foreign relatives of suspected Daesh fighters in a camp in northeastern Syria, according to an official who spoke with AFP earlier this month.
The Program on Extremism has identified 83 American adults who traveled to Syria or Iraq since 2011 and were affiliated with jihadist groups there.
