The wife of a deceased Islamic State leader was charged on Monday in
federal court in Virginia with conspiracy in the death of American aid
worker Kayla Mueller who was killed a year ago while being held hostage
in Syria by the militant group, the US. Justice Department said.
Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, aka Umm Sayyaf, 25, admitted to FBI
agents last year that Islamic State head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "owned"
Mueller during her captivity at Sayyaf's residence, and that "owning"
her was equivalent to enslaving her, according to the complaint.
Mueller was raped repeatedly by al-Baghdadi while in captivity in
Syria, US officials and theMueller family spokeswoman said last August.
Mueller's family could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.
Sayyaf, an Iraqi citizen and wife of Abu Sayyaf, a senior Islamic
State leader until his death last May, is currently in Iraqi custody for
her terrorism-related activities, according to a statement from John
Carlin, the Justice Department's chief of national security.
Monday's charges "reflect that the US justice system remains a
powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens
abroad," Carlin said in the statement.
Carlin's spokesman, Marc Raimondi, told Reuters by email that the US
government was "fully supportive" of Sayyaf's transfer to Iraqi custody,
and that the Justice Department continues to "cooperate with
authorities in Iraq to support a prosecution through to its completion
and to assist in ensuring that justice is served."
The department firmly believes that Sayyaf will be held to account
for her crimes, "though we cannot guarantee any particular result,"
Raimondi added.
Mueller, of Prescott, Arizona, went to Turkey in December 2012 to
work for a Turkish organization providing humanitarian aid to Syrian
refugees along the Syrian border. She was seized in August 2013 while
leaving a hospital in Aleppo in northern Syria.
Al-Baghdadi personally brought Mueller to be imprisoned inside the Sayyafs' home in Syria, US officials told ABC News in August.
Sayyaf was charged on Monday with providing material support to a
foreign terrorist organization that resulted in a person's death, and
faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Fifty-eight of the 80 individuals accused by US prosecutors of
Islamic State-related crimes have faced the same charge, though the vast
majority have not been accused of facilitating anyone's death.
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