American woman on trial claims she only sought acceptance, not involvement with ISIS

Halima Salman, now 27, faces charges of knowingly receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization after being repatriated from northeast Syria in May 2024. In testimony, she told FBI agents she never intended to become involved with the Islamic State and was only trying to fit in and appear cool. Salman acknowledged marrying Abu Ali, a German-Afghan fighter, but said the marriage was arranged by her father, who later died in a rocket strike.

She expressed excitement about seeing her brothers, whom she had not met for over five years, and her grandmother in New Hampshire. Prosecutors presented a handwritten document allegedly authorizing her to receive an AK-47 and ammunition, which Salman claimed she mistook for a marriage license. The case marks the first U.S. trial of an American woman accused of such training, and she remains out on bond facing up to ten years in prison.