Daesh bride could help US stem radicalization: lawyer

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON

Four years ago, Hoda Muthana left her home in Hoover, Alabama and embarked on a journey to join Daesh's self-proclaimed caliphate.

While there, she took the name Umm Jihad, or "Mother of Jihad," and regularly used her social media accounts to stoke pro-Daesh sentiments, laud the terror group and call on Muslim-Americans to carry out attacks against their countrymen.

But after being married to three Daesh fighters and giving birth to a son, Muthana, who is now 24 years old, says the war and bloodshed she witnessed made her realize her mistake and she wants to come home.

"Seeing friends, children and the men I married dying changed me," Muthana said in a letter to her lawyer, Hassan Shibly.

While the U.S. administration says she is not a U.S. citizen and will not be allowed back into the country, Shibly says her return could make for a powerful tool against terrorism and radicalization.

"One of the things Hoda really wants to do is to be able to speak out and protect others from those very same mistakes," he told Anadolu Agency.

"I think her going down the dark path that she went down, and being a witness to how evil ISIS is, and then coming back to testify to the world how evil they are can be very, very helpful in protecting others from making those same mistakes," he added, using another name for Daesh.

According to George Washington University's Program on Extremism, 60 Americans left the U.S. to join Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

Those who want to return could become advocates against Daesh, since they have firsthand experience in what happened there, according to David Malet, Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice, Law Criminology of the School of Public Affairs at American University.

"Many foreign fighters return with powerful stories of why others should not do what they have done. If she were used in this way, Muthana would be a much more credible spokesperson against ISIS than anyone in the Trump administration," Malet told Anadolu Agency.

"We know that less than one-tenth of one percent of returnees have become involved in domestic plots. My own research shows that most plots occur within the first few months of return and that there has never been a long-term threat after that."

President Donald Trump and his administration said Muthana would not be allowed back in the country, calling her a "terrorist," while Shibly said she had been manipulated by people online to brainwash her and that she did not have full control of her social media accounts.

"She realizes that she had completely gone astray, that she was very ignorant and arrogant and angry and she had lost her way. And she wants to make amends for her mistakes and find a safe haven for her child to grow up in," he said.

Shibly argues that her U.S. birth qualifies her as a citizen, providing Anadolu Agency with a photo of her birth certificate showing Muthana was born in New Jersey as well as a letter from the U.S. mission to the UN saying her father was no longer serving as a diplomat when she was born.

Someone born to a foreign diplomatic officer is not automatically considered a U.S. citizen at birth.

The State Department, however, said the letter "only addresses" Ahmed Ali Muthana's diplomatic privileges "during his reported length of service" and fails to address when those "privileges and immunities began and ended".

Malet says the Trump administration is contradicting its own calls for other countries to take back citizens caught in Syria and put them on trial.

"The administration is using the same tactics that the UK, Australia others use to argue that she is not a citizen because of her father's legal status. This turnaround will discourage other countries from repatriating their citizens and lead to longer-term problems."

It is unclear whether Muthana will be allowed to return to the U.S. and face trial for joining Daesh, and her legal status still remains a mystery.

She is currently living in statelessness in the al-Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria, where she is the only American among its 39,000 residents.