NEW YORK JURY CONVICTS HALIMA SALMAN OF RECEIVING ISIS TRAINING

A federal jury in New York convicted Halima Salman on Tuesday of receiving military-type training from Islamic State fighters in Syria, federal prosecutors said. The jury reached its verdict after a week-long trial before US District Judge Natasha C. Merle. Prosecutors said Salman, a US citizen born in Brooklyn, willingly took part in the group’s activities and obtained authorisation to carry ammunition and an assault rifle. Salman told jurors that her father took her to Syria without telling her where the family was going. She said he arranged her marriage to an Islamic State fighter and that she repeatedly sought a divorce.

Accounts place the family’s journey in either 2016 or 2017. Salman said she thought they were travelling to visit relatives in Turkey before their van crossed into Syria and masked gunmen surrounded it. Prosecutors presented a training certificate recovered from her husband’s mobile phone, photographs showing Salman with an Islamic State flag and video of her holding an AK-47 rifle. They also cited messages she sent her husband and said she pledged loyalty to the group. Salman said she spent three months in housing run by Islamic State before rejoining her family.

The defence argued that Salman became trapped in Syria by her father and later had to follow her husband’s orders. “You try to leave, it is death,” Salman testified. Assistant US Attorney Amanda Shami told jurors in her closing argument that the evidence showed Salman received military training from the group. After the verdict, Merle left the courtroom to speak to jurors before setting a sentencing date.