An American jihadist, who held the rare position of leader of a female battalion within the Islamic State (IS), was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison by a court in Alexandria, outside Washington.
Allison Fluke-Ekren, a 42-year-old mother, pleaded guilty in June to “material support to a terrorist organization” and admitted to providing military training to more than 100 women in Syria.
The woman said she led the “Khatiba Nusaybah”, a battalion in which about 100 women and girls – some as young as 10 years old – learned to use automatic weapons and to detonate grenades and use suicide belts.
One of Allison Fluke-Ekren’s daughters was among those alleged to have undergone such training. Fluke-Ekren’s daughter and eldest son urged the judge to impose the maximum sentence. They said they were physically and sexually abused by their mother and described the abuse in detail in letters to the court. The woman denied the abuse.
Born in the United States and raised to a leadership level in Daesh, Fluke-Ekren makes her story unique among terrorism cases.
Allison Fluke-Ekren only asked for two years in prison so she could raise her young children. He said at the beginning of a long speech that he took responsibility for his actions, but spent most of his time rationalizing his behavior.
Source: DN
