Kayla Mueller’s Syrian boyfriend claims he did everything he could to save her from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). He told her to tell the terrorists she was married to him since they would not imprison a Muslim man’s wife. She decided instead to tell the truth.
“The prison judge said she had denied being my wife and I asked why she had said this,” said photographer Omar Alkhani. “She was crying and could only say, ‘I don’t know.’”
The Islamic State captured Mueller in August 2013. The jihadists claimed an airstrike by Jordan killed her, but have only published a photo of rubble in Syria as proof of her death. A few days later, though, her parents in Arizona confirmed her death. The terrorists sent them pictures to prove she was gone.
He bribed people “let him plead for her release” and only saw her face for a brief moment when the guards uncovered it. Alkhani claims the guards told Mueller he would not be harmed if she told the truth.
“Since she’s American, they would not let her go anyway,” he said. “No sense to stay here, both of us. Maybe she wanted to save me. Maybe she didn’t know I came back to save her.”
The Associated Press interviewed Alkhani via webcam on Sunday. The Islamic State kidnapped them after they left a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria. Apparently Mueller was only there because she begged Alkhani to take her with him.
“We argued about it,” he stated. “In the end, I was afraid if she didn’t go with me, she would go with someone else.”
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