Oct. 28 (UPI) — A federal jury has found a 27-year-old woman guilty of receiving military-type training from the Islamic State in Syria, according to federal prosecutors.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Halima Salman, a U.S. citizen by birth, was convicted by a jury Tuesday following a two-week trial on one count of receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization, and faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment at sentencing. The United States designated the Islamic State’s predecessor, al-Qaida in Iraq, as a foreign terrorist organization in December 2004.
“With today’s verdict, Salman is held accountable for joining forces with a terrorist organization,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.
“ISIS ravaged Syria and caused havoc across the globe; our office will continue to prosecute those who supported its murderous reign.”
According to federal prosecutors, a 17-year-old Salman, also known as Umm Khattab al-Muhajir, left the United States with her parents and eight siblings in October 2016 with a final destination of ISIS-controlled Syria.
During the trial, prosecutors showed that after arriving in Syria, Salman married an ISIS fighter and, as an 18-year-old, voluntarily received and completed training from ISIS. As proof, prosecutors pointed to a digital copy of a document certifying her completed training found on her husband’s cellphone after it was recovered from a battlefield.
Also discovered on the device were photos of Salman with an ISIS flag in the background and a video of her with an AK-47, the Justice Department said.
Salman, believed to be the first American woman accused of joining ISIS to stand trial in U.S. federal court, was arrested in May 2024, at New York City’s Kennedy Airport and later indicted on the single charge, The New York Times reported.
She had returned to the United States as part of a Biden administration repatriation effort.
A State Department press release from that time states it had repatriated 11 U.S. citizens from northeast Syria, including five minors. It was what the Biden administration called the largest single repatriation of U.S. citizens to date from northeastern Syria.