An American woman sobbed as she was found guilty in federal court of training to become an ISIS fighter.
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Halima Salman, 27, was convicted on Tuesday of marrying an Islamic State fighter in Syria when she was a teen, then pledging loyalty to the extremist group and willingly participating in its activities.
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During her trial, jurors were shown a video of her holding an assault rifle, a photo of her with the group's flag and loving text messages she sent her husband.
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she → show → husband
Salman, who was born in Brooklyn, claimed her father forced her into an arranged marriage when she was a teen and that she had no choice but to participate in terrorist activities.
'
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I do blame my father for a lot of things that happened,' she testified.
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Salman, her mother and even her defense attorneys burst into tears after hearing the verdict on Tuesday.
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During her weeklong trial, Salman testified that she was 17 in 2017 when her father took her and her eight siblings on what they thought was a trip to Turkey.
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they → testify → Turkey
Instead, they drove into Syria and got trapped in the country's civil war.
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Halima Salman (picture posing with an ISIS flag), 27, was convicted of training to become an ISIS fighter after marrying a member of the group in Syria
Salman, who covered her face as she walked into court on October 21, told the jury that she blames her father for making her join the terrorist organization
The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, which the US government designates as a terrorist group, seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and declared the territory to be a caliphate.
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Despite its defeat in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, the group still has sleeper cells that carry out deadly attacks in both countries.
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Salman's father, an Islamic State sympathizer, died after he was injured in a bombing in 2018 but not before arranging for her to marry a member of the group when she turned 18.
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Once she was married, prosecutors said Salman had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State and sent her then-husband a photograph of her with the group's flag.
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She had also been filmed by her husband with an assault rifle she had been trained to use, and jurors were shown that video.
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Salman testified that her marriage was bad before she left Syria and divorced her husband.
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The prosecutor, Assistant US Attorney Amanda Shami, disputed that account of a poor marriage, citing two loving text messages Salman sent to her husband.
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'Her statements on the stand don't make sense,' Shami said.
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Jurors were shown a video of her holding an assault rifle, a photo of her with the group's flag and loving text messages she sent her husband
Once she was married, prosecutors said Salman had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State and sent her then-husband a photograph of her with the group's flag
Salman testified that her marriage was bad before she left Syria and divorced her husband
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she → show → husband
On cross-examination, Salman admitted that she once sent a religious song about Osama bin Laden to her husband.
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she → admit → husband
'The evidence shows that the defendant received military training from a violent, brutal, terrorist organization - an organization that is responsible for attacks across the world,' Shami said in her closing arguments last week.
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The couple eventually fled their home and became separated.
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Salman was detained in Baghouz, Syria, in 2019 by forces opposed to the Islamic State group.
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US authorities arrested her when she returned to New York in 2024.
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Her lawyers have asked the judge to set aside the verdict and acquit her, as federal law allows if a judge finds the evidence presented at a trial doesn't legally support a conviction.
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She faces up to 10 years in prison, and her sentencing is scheduled for February 2.
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The US Attorney's Office praised the jury for finding her guilty.
'With today's verdict, Salman is held accountable for joining forces with a terrorist organization,' said US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr for the Eastern District of New York.
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'ISIS ravaged Syria and caused havoc across the globe; our Office will continue to prosecute those who supported its murderous reign.'
The Daily Mail contacted Salman's defense attorneys for comment.
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The Aporia
