Dutch court sentences wife of ISIS member to four years in prison News
© WikiMedia (VOA)
Dutch court sentences wife of ISIS member to four years in prison

The Court of Rotterdam announced on Monday that Fatima H. has been sentenced to four years in prison in the Netherlands for her involvement with the terrorist organization known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Shaam (ISIS) or Islamic State (IS).

According to the court:

The suspect is guilty of participation in a terrorist organization in Syria, namely IS. Moreover, [she] is guilty of acquiring the radical and extremist ideas of the armed jihadi struggle of that organization for this purpose. The suspect facilitated her husband, who was a member of ISIS, carried out propaganda for IS via social media, tried to persuade others to travel to Syria and had firearms available.

The court concluded that Fatima traveled to Syria in 2013 when she was 17 and married a Belgian member of ISIS. At that time, Fatima knew that ISIS was active in the area and believed her husband was a member of the organization. In 2014, Fatima wrote on Facebook that she was happy to have been allowed to take the oath of allegiance to ISIS. Fatima also used Facebook to try and persuade another woman to travel to Syria and join the terrorist group. During this time, Fatima gave birth to two children who are now Dutch citizens.

The court cited a terrorism expert who claims that women perform the important duties of homemaking and recruiting to facilitate ISIS’s success. Fatima filled both roles while living in ISIS territory and “behaved like a member of IS, and is thus guilty of participating in an organization that has the intent to commit terrorist offenses.”

Fatima was sentenced to forty-eight months in prison with sixteen months served on probation. She will also be subject to a three-year probationary period after her release. Because Fatima’s Dutch citizenship has been revoked, she will not be permitted to live in the Netherlands when her sentence is complete.

All names have been redacted from the judgement according to the court’s guidelines.

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