US citizen accused of training with ISIS faces trial in New York

Halima Salman, a 27-year-old American woman repatriated from Syria, began her trial on Tuesday in a federal court in Brooklyn for allegedly receiving military training from the Islamic State (IS). She is believed to be the first woman accused of belonging to that terrorist organization to face federal criminal charges in the United States.

The charges

According to the prosecution, Salman traveled to an ISIS-controlled area in Syria in late 2016 or early 2017, when she was 17 years old, after passing through Russia and Turkey. Once she turned 18, she allegedly received training in the use of an AK-47-type assault rifle and "allegedly received ammunition from a military battalion of the jihadist group."

Prosecutors also allege that Salman married Abu Ali, an ISIS fighter of Afghan-German origin, in Syria, and that images and documents were found on her phone suggesting she completed military training and posed in front of the group's flag.

The charge—receiving military-style training from a foreign terrorist organization—carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Salman is not accused of directly participating in combat.

The defense: A minor taken to Syria

Her attorney argues that Salman was a victim of her stepfather's decisions, who took the family to Turkey and then crossed the border into ISIS-controlled Syrian territory.

"He took the family—including Halima's mother and her eight siblings—to Turkey for a few months" and, without realizing it, "crossed the border into Syria and ended up in a town occupied by the Islamic State," the attorney said.

The defense asserts that the young woman was unaware of the man's pro-Islamic State beliefs and that she never embraced his ideology.

Salman was captured by Syrian forces opposed to ISIS in early 2019 and remained in a resettlement camp until 2024, when she returned to the United States and was arrested.