An Indiana woman who claims she was tricked into traveling to Syria where her husband was killed fighting for the Islamic State, was charged Wednesday with aiding and abetting the terrorist group.
Samantha Elhassani’s son, Matthew – a child from her previous relationship with a US soldier – appeared in an ISIS propaganda video and she previously admitted she had bought sex slaves.
However, the 32-year-old’s lawyer says the mom-of-four, whose children are now in the care of the state, is a victim of the man who died in a drone strike while fighting for ISIS.
The Elkhart woman and her children were held in a Kurdish detention camp after her Moroccan husband, Moussana Elhassani, died.
Her family had traveled to Syria from their Turkey vacation in April 2015.
Samantha Elhassani’s lawyer says the mom-of-four, whose children are now in the care of the state, is a victim of her husband who died fighting for ISIS
Elhassani, 32, was charged Wednesday with aiding and abetting the militant group
Elhassani’s son appeared in IS propaganda videos and her husband, Moussana, (left) was an ISIS sniper before he was killed in a drone strike
She is accused by the US Attorney’s Office of conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and aiding and abetting individuals in providing material support for the group’s mission.
Specifically, Elhassani is charged with providing tactical gear and funds to two unidentified Islamic State fighters between the fall of 2014 and the summer of 2015.
It’s believed she knew the group was an active terrorist organization.
She was accused of lying to the FBI March 19.
Elhassani remains in federal custody according to Ryan Holmes, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s office in Hammond.
‘The seriousness of the charges reflect the gravity of Elhassani’s alleged conduct,’ US Attorney, Thomas Kirsch II, stated in news release.
Their son, Matthew – a child from her previous relationship with a US soldier – appeared in an ISIS propaganda video (pictured)
Elhassani’s children are now under the care of the state of Indiana while their mom is detained
Elhassani claims her husband deceived her into taking their children (pictured November 2013) from Turkey to Syria
Her Chicago-based attorney, Thomas Durkin, said: ‘[Elhassani is] a victim of her jihadist husband [who] should be receiving treatment rather than incarceration,’
He added the accusations were ‘wrong-headed and cruel’.
The family was transferred into American custody by US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
In an April interview with the PBS show Frontline, Elhassani said she was forced to go to Syria after her husband threatened the lives of their children.
At the time, Samantha had Matthew from her previous relationship, Sarah with her husband, and gave birth to two more children in Raqqa.
‘We ended up in Raqqa,’ she said while in custody under the auspices of the Kurdish authorities.
‘The first thing I say to him is, “You’re crazy and I’m leaving,” and he said, with a big smile on his face, “Go ahead. You can try, but you won’t make it.”‘
The first Yazidi slave Elhassani said she bought at a market for $10,000 was a 17-year-old girl named Soad (pictured above) but Samantha will not apologize for it
However her son later appeared in a chilling ISIS propaganda video.
Calling Donald Trump ‘a puppet of the Jews’, the then seven-year-old threatened terrorist attacks on the West.
‘Allah has promised us victory and promised you defeat,’ Matthew is seen saying while standing on the rubble of bombed buildings in Raqqa.
‘The battle is not going to end in Raqqa or Mosul, its going in your lands. By the will of Allah, we will have victory, so get ready for the fighting has just begun.
Commander Sean Robertson, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department provided aircraft and aircrew to fly the detainees from Syria to the United States.
In an interview from prison, she spoke of her life in the Caliphate as a ‘prisoner’ and said her husband once took her to a Yazidi slave market after suggesting they could help keep her and the children company while he was off fighting.
Over time, she said the couple bought two female teenage slaves and a young boy. The first slave was a girl named Soad, now aged 17, who Elhassani said she paid $10,000 for.
Elhassani said her husband repeatedly raped the two girls but she defended her decision to purchase them because she offered them protection.
The two detainees were picked up by the Syrian Democratic Forces (stock image), a US-backed ground force that has been fighting ISIS across parts of northern and eastern Syria
‘In every house that she was in before that was the same situation, but she did not have the support of someone like me,’ Elhassani told CNN.
‘I would never apologize for bringing those girls to my house. They had me and I had them.
‘In any other situation they would be locked in a bedroom and fed tea every day. We cooked together, we cleaned together. Drank coffee together. Slept in the same room together. I was like their mother.’