In a court appearance on February 3, a federal court denied bail to an American woman charged with organizing and leading an all-female military battalion for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and providing them material support.
A criminal complaint filed in 2019 was unsealed last week, revealing the charges against Allison Fluke-Ekren, a 42-year-old mother of five who was a former U.S. citizen of Kansas. She was apprehended in Syria and is currently in the custody of the FBI in Virginia.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the criminal complaint states that Fluke-Ekren, formerly a teacher in Kansas, traveled to Syria from the U.S. several years ago to support the foreign terrorist organization. Authorities believe she has been involved with ISIS since 2014 and have accused her of organizing and recruiting women to attack a U.S. college campus.
Fluke-Ekren was reportedly the appointed leader of Khatiba Nusaybah, an all-female ISIS military battalion whose members were the wives of ISIS terrorists. According to the Insider, Fluke-Ekren met her husband in the U.S., and he allegedly became a sniper leader for ISIS but later died during an airstrike. She then went on to marry two other alleged members of the organization.
She reportedly trained women to use suicide belts, grenades, and AK-47 assault rifles in the battalion. Eyewitnesses stated that she also gave medical and physical training courses, as well as Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) driving courses.
According to DOJ documents, authorities believe her support for ISIS included training children to use suicide belts and assault rifles and “teaching extremist ISIS doctrine.” She also provided members of ISIS with translation services and lodging. According to the New York Post, it is believed that Fluke-Ekren taught her own children war tactics.
Six eyewitnesses have documented their allegations of Fluke-Akren’s alleged terrorist activity. One witness told authorities that Fluke-Ekren expressed a desire to attack within the U.S. by planting a bomb at a shopping mall, but she did not want to “waste resources” by attacking an area not heavily populated with U.S. citizens.
David Robins, FBI Special Agent, stated that she told a witness “not to worry about the logistics because she knew how to get into the U.S. from Mexico.”
If convicted, Fluke-Ekren could face up to twenty years in prison. The National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section will assist First Assistant U. S. Attorney Raj Parekh and Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. Gibbs in prosecuting this case.
Only 20 years? That’s bs, she should be facing life, without parole or execution.