An Alabama woman who fled to Syria and joined the Islamic State recently said she wants to come back home.
Hoda Muthana, 24, is currently in a refugee camp in Northern Syria with her 18-month-old son, The Guardian reported.
"I realized I've made a big mistake, and I know I've ruined my future and my son's future, and I deeply, deeply regret it," Muthana told The Guardian.
“I would tell them (U.S. officials) please forgive me for being so ignorant, and I was really young and ignorant and I was 19 when I decided to leave. I believe that America gives second chances. I want to return and I’ll never come back to the Middle East. America can take my passport and I wouldn’t mind,” she said.
Muthana is originally from Hoover, Alabama. In 2014, while a student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she told her family she was traveling to Atlanta to attend a school trip. Instead, she boarded a plane to Turkey and ultimately settled in Syria, Al.com reported.
Muthana had been talking with members of the Islamic State online, and spent months secretly planning the move, The Guardian reported. When she arrived in Syria, she began working as a recruiter for ISIS on Twitter, according to Al.com.
Muthana was raised in a Muslim family, but they do not agree with the extreme views of ISIS.
Muthana has been married three times since arriving in Syria -- her first two husbands died while fighting for ISIS, according to Al.com. After the death of her first husband, Muthana tweeted: “Americans wake up! Men and women altogether. You have much to do while you live under our greatest enemy, enough of your sleeping! Go on drivebys, and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriots, Memorial, etc day … Kill them.”
When speaking to The Guardian, Muthana said she was “arrogant” and “brainwashed.”
Muthana said she hasn't been in contact with U.S. officials. Muthana's attorney, Hassan Shibly, told Al.com he made contact with the FBI in order to arrange for FBI officials to question her and take her into custody. However, he said U.S. officials haven't shown interest in her case.
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