DW Documentary covered this subject back in 2019 and that's how I got acquainted with it at first. ISIS Bride means a girl/woman who has fled her country (willingly/forcefully) to marry an ISIS supporter and join this movement. Usually, they are educated teenage girls who are approached by men on social media; brainwashed and radicalized and then fled to war-torn Syria.
This phenomenon started occurring in 2012 when dozens of minor girls and women traveled to Syria and Iraq to join this movement. Some traveled willingly, some didn't but their stories can’t be verified. Such cases are particularly high in Europe, attracting females of all ages, religions, and nationalities. We are talking about literate women living in advanced economies here, and I just couldn’t fathom why they would want to live in a dilapidated third-world country. Upon interviewing these women, it became apparent they join because of a sense of social belonging. Unlike in India, religion is not a part of one’s identity — so people looking for communities to be a part of or a new faith; fall prey to these devious groups. This followed by a top-notch online radicalization program conducted via social media (mainly Facebook); paves way for women to get influenced. In almost all the interviews that I watched, women claimed to have been approached via Facebook by an older man talking about the teachings of Islam. This eventually navigated towards ISIS and the greater good, followed by marriage and emigration.
However, the term ‘ISIS Bride’ is limiting the role, responsibility, and accountability of these women. There is documented evidence that they were suicide bombers, part of local police oppressing citizens, and social media perpetrators of hate and preachers of ISIS. All this is outside of their role of being ‘just mothers’ as is often the notion. This brings to an important question, two rather, well wait three:
1. Are they victims or perpetrators?
2. Do they deserve a second chance?
3. What do to with their children?
The global response to these questions is similar — indifferent, somewhat scared, and mostly inhumane. In 2019, a UK Court delivered a verdict that former ISIS Bride Shamima Begum would not be allowed back in the country despite her British citizenship. This was done on account of a “severe national security threat”. The court further advised that since her mother was from Bangladesh, Shamima was eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship and should try for it. Similarly, Hoda Muthana, an American citizen left for Syria in 2014 and has been struggling to repatriate since 2018. However, she has been denied entry on similar grounds.
So why all of a sudden are we talking about them? ISIS began collapsing and in 2019 the local Kurdish group took over. This led to the men captured and put away in prisons and the women & children left away to perish in internment camps. Since then more and more women have demanded to repatriate claiming that they were influenced and now feel remorse and regret. However, all governments, especially the US and Western Europe have turned a blind eye. The reasons are obvious but unjustifiable along the lines of International Law. These women have been stripped off of dual citizenship and now remain homeless, stateless but not hopeless.
Human Rights Groups have asked for a vetting process but nothing foolproof has been put in place. The rationale for this indifference is overt — deradicalization and rehabilitation programs have proved to be patchy in the past and would require resources and surveilling. So it’s best to maintain an arm’s distance. But for women who have been kidnapped, some process should be established to help them. One approach could be to prosecute them in their home country, engage in long debriefings and turn them as state witnesses. However, experts rightly point out that these women can't be trusted due to the level of indoctrination and training they receive.
So what do we do with them and their children who are being brought up in squalor, violent, traumatic conditions by mothers who are regretful but not remorseful?
