Indiana woman gets 6 years in prison after smuggling cash for the Islamic State
Prosecutors say Samantha Elhassani also brought her two children to live in IS-controlled territory in Syria.
An Indiana woman who took her children to war-torn Syria after smuggling funds for the Islamic State (IS) was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison on Tuesday.
Samantha Elhassani, 35, also received an additional three years of supervised release by the federal judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. Elhassani, also known as Samantha Sally, pleaded guilty last year to terrorism financing charges.
She was transferred into US custody in 2018 by the Syrian Kurdish forces who captured her in northern Syria. Her husband, Moussa Elhassani, a Moroccan national, was killed in an airstrike.
“Once again, the Justice Department has held accountable an individual who turned her back on her country to support a terrorist organization,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said Tuesday in a statement.
