New York woman convicted of Islamic State training after teen marriage

A New York woman was convicted Tuesday of receiving military training from the Islamic State group after being taken to Syria as a teenager and married to an ISIS fighter, WTOP reported.

Prosecutors said the woman, a U.S. citizen, pledged loyalty to the extremist group and willingly participated in its activities. Evidence presented included a video of her holding an assault rifle, a photo with the group’s flag, and text messages to her husband.

The defense argued she was a teenager trapped in Syria’s civil war by her father and extremist husband, testifying that attempts to leave would have meant death. She also said she sought a divorce and refused to be married off at age 18.

The woman was born in Brooklyn and was 17 when her father took the family on a trip that ended in Syria, where masked gunmen intercepted them. She spent months in ISIS-controlled housing before reuniting with her family, who moved twice due to airstrikes.

Despite ISIS’s defeat in Iraq and Syria, sleeper cells remain active in the region, continuing to carry out deadly attacks, according to WTOP.