Alabama woman who joined Islamic State seeks return to US

Published 8:24 am Wednesday, February 20, 2019

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.  — An Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State after becoming radicalized online realized she was wrong and now wants to return to the United States, a lawyer for her family said Tuesday.

Hoda Muthana, 24, regrets ever aligning herself with the terrorist organization and is putting herself at risk by speaking out against it from a refugee camp where she has lived since fleeing the group a few weeks ago, said attorney Hassan Shibly.

Muthana, who dodged sniper fire and roadside bombs to escape, is ready to pay the penalty for her actions but wants freedom and safety for the 18-month-old son she had with one of two IS fighters she wed, he said. Both men were killed in combat.

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In a handwritten letter released by Shibly, Muthana wrote that she made “a big mistake” by rejecting her family and friends in the United States to join the Islamic State.

“During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed me,” she wrote.