Brides of ISIL


Beginning in 2012, hundreds of girls and women traveled to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, becoming brides of ISIL fighters. While some traveled willingly, others were brought to Iraq and Syria as minors by their parents or family.
Some of those women subsequently acquired high public profiles, either through their efforts to recruit more volunteers, when they died or because they recanted and wished to return to their home countries. Commentators have noted that it will be hard to differentiate between the women who played an active role in atrocities and those who were stay-at-home housewives.
NameBirth
year
Date of
volunteering
Date of
defection
Home
country
Notes
Fauzia Khamal Bacha2014Singapore
  • Travelled from Melbourne, Australia to Syria, with her husband and four children, in 2014.
  • Bacha, her husband Yasin Rizvic, and their eldest son, were killed in Syria.
  • Their three surviving children, aged 6 to 12, and all Australian citizens, were repatriated on June 24, 2019.
Emilie Konig19842012France
  • Was the subject of a 2012 documentary.
  • Aqsa Mahmood2013United Kingdom
  • Suspected of playing a role in recruiting the four students from Bethnal Green.
  • Daniela Greene198020142014United States
  • Greene, a contract linguist with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had been assigned to communicate with Denis Cuspert, a German ISIL recruiter, as part of a covert investigation of his activities. During these conversations, Greene fell in love with Cuspert and travelled to occupied Syria to marry him. Disenchanted within weeks, Greene deserted both husband and Daesh. Upon return to the United States, she was charged with lying to the FBI, later serving a two-year sentence.
  • Shima Essanoor199220142018United Kingdom
  • Introduced to her husband, Sadjo Ture, an associate of "Jihadi John", by her best friend, Reema Iqbal.
  • Hoda Muthana19942014United States
  • Started making inflammatory tweets after her first husband was killed in action.
  • Salma Halane19982014United Kingdom
  • Twin sister of Zahra Halane, active in recruiting more volunteers after her arrival in Daesh territory.
  • Zahra Halane19982014United Kingdom
  • Twin sister of Salma Halane, active in recruiting more volunteers after her arrival in Daesh territory.
  • Tara Nettleton19832013Australia
  • Was able to travel to Daesh territory with her husband, Khaled Sharrouf, even though his passport had been cancelled due to an earlier conviction for terrorism. The couple brought their children with them. Nettleton died in 2015 from appendicitis. Sharrouf and two of their five children died from the same drone attack in 2017.
  • Zaynab Sharrouf20012013Australia
  • Brought to Daesh territory by her parents Tara Nettleton and Khaled Sharrouf at the age of thirteen, at which age she was married to Mohammed Elomar, a jihadi fighter and her father's best friend. On June 24, 2019, it was reported she had been repatriated to Australia, also rescued with her two children, age 2 and 3.
  • Zehra Duman19932014Australia
  • Served as a recruiter following her arrival in Daesh territory.
  • Shams2015Malaysia
  • Shams is a medical doctor.
  • Kimberly Gwen PolmanCanada-United States
  • Describes first trying to defect after being in Daesh for a year, only to be captured, imprisoned, tortured, and raped.
  • Reema Iqbal19902013United Kingdom
  • "The security services came to speak to me and I was honest, I told them my whole story so now it's up to them to judge."
  • Stripped of UK citizenship in early March, 2019.
  • Zara Iqbal19922013United Kingdom
  • Stripped of UK citizenship in early March, 2019.
  • Natalie Bracht2013United Kingdom
  • Reported to have been an associate of Zara Iqbal, Reema Iqbal, Ruzina Khanam, and Maylbongwe Sibanda.
  • Ruzina Khanam2013United Kingdom
  • Reported to have been an associate of Zara Iqbal, Reema Iqbal, Natalie Bracht, and Maylbongwe Sibanda.
  • Maylbongwe Sibanda2013United Kingdom
  • Reported to have been an associate of Zara Iqbal, Reema Iqbal, Natalie Bracht, and Ruzina Khanam.
  • Leonora MessingGermany
  • Reported to have wed a jihadi at just 15 years old.
  • Hayat Boumeddiene19882015France
  • May have been killed in Syria, early in 2019.
  • Shamima Begum20012015United Kingdom
  • One of four young women from her high school to volunteer.
  • Amira Abase20012015United Kingdom
  • In February 2019 she was described as "missing".
  • Kadiza Sultana20002015United Kingdom
  • Died.
  • Nassima Begum2012United Kingdom
  • Said she had no choice when her husband moved their family to Syria in 2012.
  • Sharmeena Begum19992014United Kingdom
  • In February 2019 she was described as "missing".
  • Sally Jones196820132017United Kingdom
  • "Reportedly placed on a special-forces kill list after threatening Queen Elizabeth II".
  • Reported to be trying to return to Britain in April, 2017.
  • Reported killed later in 2017.
  • Fatiha Mejjati19612014Morocco
  • Commanded "the Islamic State's Al-Khansaa Brigade, an all-female detachment that polices the group's strictures against wearing makeup or showing bare skin."
  • Linda Wenzel200120162017Germany
    "ISIL wife Sanna"19722014–2015Finland
  • A Finnish woman, called "ISIL wife Sanna" by Finnish media, emigrated from Kotka, Finland, to an ISIL-controlled area in Syria with her Moroccan husband. She had converted to Islam in 2004–2005, and she is accompanied by her four underage children, of whom the eldest, a daughter born in 2005–2006, was married in Syria. During the fall of ISIL in 2019, Sanna was interviewed by CNN near the Iraqi border in eastern Syria., she was in a refugee camp and wanted to return to Finland. After the interview was published on 6 March 2019, Sanna's story was widely covered by Finnish media, starting a public discussion in Finland on possible return of Finnish citizens who emigrated to the ISIL war zone in Iraq and Syria. According to the Finnish Security Intelligence Service, some 80 identified Finnish citizens have travelled to the area; about 20 of them have died and around 20 have returned.
  • Shayma Assaad2019Australia
  • Was pregnant when she made her way to the Al-Hawl refugee camp in 2019.
  • Kirsty Rosse-Emile199520142019Australia
  • Was pregnant when she made her way to the Al-Hawl refugee camp in 2019.
  • Made provocative social media posts.
  • Janai Safar199620152017Australia
  • Unlike many other Brides, Safar does not want to be repatriated.
  • Has denied that her husband was a senior Daesh official.
  • Her family disputes she professed continued support for Daesh.
  • Aylam20152017Australia
  • Cousin and travelling companion to Janai Safar.
  • Lisa SmithIreland
  • Formerly a soldier in the Irish army.
  • Irish security officials believe she was not an active member of Daesh and was no more than a sympathizer.
  • Dullel Kassab2014Australia
  • Her father says she only travelled to Daesh-occupied Syria to find out what happened to her late husband. Her family claims that once she arrived in Daesh territory, she was forced into marriage with a jihadi fighter.
  • Once married to a jihadi fighter, she made social media posts that seemed to support the Daesh regime.
  • She has criticied Daesh's inability to provide health care, including pre-natal and obstetrics care.
  • Lenora Lemke200020162019Germany
  • Bore two children in Syria and believed that she would be repatriated to Germany.
  • Nûh Suwaidi1995Germany
  • Moved to ISIS territory with her husband, and bore three children there.
  • Claims her husband made all their decisions, and did not know where they were living.
  • Nora Camali-
    Mariam Dabboussy19922015Australia
  • Dabboussy says her husband tricked her into traveling to the Turkish-Syrian border with a claim they were going to help one of his relatives escape Syria, only to force her to cross the border, at gunpoint.
  • Nesrine ZahabAustralia
  • Claims she was tricked into Daesh territory when she thought she was merely delivering emergency food supplies to the border.
  • Zara AhmedAustralia
  • Ahmed said refugee women who remain radicalized are murdering other camp occupants they see as apostates.
  • Zahra AhmadAustralia
  • Traveled to Syria with her extended family, and became Muhammad Zahab's second wife.
  • Shannon Maureen Conley and Jaelyn Delshaun Young were American women who were apprehended when they tried to travel to ISIL-occupied territory. Minnesotan Tnuza Jamal Hassan was prevented from traveling to Afghanistan.