Prosecutors recommend that an Indiana woman who pleaded guilty to financially aiding the Islamic State (ISIS) receive a maximum of ten years in prison at her upcoming sentencing.
Federal prosecutors say Samantha Elhassani was aware of her actions and should serve the full ten years, according to court documents obtained by WXIN.
Elhassani, 33, of Elkhart, Indiana, has told media outlets that her husband and brother-in-law bullied her into joining the terrorist group in 2014, the Times reported.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said her husband and her brother-in-law joined the terrorist group, ISIS, and Elhassani made three trips to Hong Kong carrying thousands in gold and cash to help fund the group.
WSBT reported that Elhassani’s husband ultimately perished in a drone strike while fighting for ISIS in 2017. She was detained in a Kurdish detention center with her four children after ISIS’s fall in Raqqa.
Elhassani was later flown back to America and transferred to U.S. custody in 2018.
Federal officials allege she used one of her children to film a video teaching the child how to kill an American soldier.
She is due back in court for sentencing next Thursday morning.