Samantha Marie Sally, also known as Samantha Elhassani (born 1984 or 1985), is an American woman who lived with her husband and children in the Islamic State between 2015 and 2017. Sally has maintained she was tricked into traveling to the Islamic State by her husband, and was not a supporter of the group. She is currently serving a prison sentence in the United States for providing financial support to a terrorist group.
Early life
editSally grew up in Springdale, Arkansas. She and her sister, Lori, were raised in a strict Jehovah's Witness household which forbade music and television. The two girls faced corporal punishment and, according to Lori, were sexually abused by an adult relative. Samantha did not complete high school. She married her first husband as a teenager, and the marriage was short lived.[1][2]
Sally met her second husband in 2004,[1] while the two were working as vacuum cleaner salespeople. They had one son and lived in Oklahoma. The couple later divorced.[3][4][1]
Sally moved to Elkhart, Indiana in 2011 to live with her sister, Lori, after being laid off from a job in Oklahoma. The two worked at a delivery company, where Sam met Moussa Elhassani, a brother of Lori's husband. His family owned the company. Elhassani had been born in Morocco and moved to the U.S. in the early 2000s. He was a non-observant Muslim. Sam and Moussa began dating, and married in 2012. In June 2013, Sally had a daughter. Over time the relationship became emotionally and physically abusive.[3][4][1][2]
Sally worked at a shipping company owned by Elhassani's family.[4][1] Her sister, Lori, was married to a brother of Elhassani and also worked at the company.[1] At one point Samantha was approached by the FBI, who asked her to become an informant and send them information regarding particular shipping details of certain customers; she agreed.[4]
Life in the Islamic State
editIn early 2015, Sally and her husband began selling their assets and buying gold. According to Sally, this was in preparation to move to Morocco to live with her husband's family.[4]
On March 22, 2015, Sally and her family took a flight from Chicago to Hong Kong, with a layover in Beijing. While in Hong Kong, they were joined by Elhassani's brother, Abdelhadi.[4] The FBI has maintained that during this time Sally also helped to "procure tactical gear".[5] On April 7, the family flew to Istanbul. Sally has said the stop in Istanbul was meant to be a layover before continuing on to Morocco, but after landing her husband told Sally and the children they were taking a 10-day surprise vacation in Turkey. After staying in Sanliurfa, a city in southeastern Turkey, Elhassani drove the family in a van to the Syrian border, after telling Sally he was driving them to the airport. After stopping at the border, Elhassani grabbed their daughter and began walking; Sally said she followed with her son so as not to lose track of her daughter, figuring she could later cross back across the Syrian border.[4][3]
After crossing the border in territory controlled by the Islamic State, Sally and her children were separated from Elhassani and his brother. They were reunited after arriving in Raqqa, Syria in May 2015, and settled in a house on the city's edge.[4] While living under the Islamic State, Sally went by the name Umm Yusuf (English: "Mother of Yusuf"), derived from the new name given to her oldest son, but Sally never converted to Islam.[4][1] Her husband was often away from the family, fighting for the Islamic State; when he was home, he subjected Sally to increasing levels of physical abuse, which was later attested to by Sally's former neighbors.[4]
Sally homeschooled her children, refusing her husband's request to place them in the IS-controlled school system.[2]
Sally has said that at some time while living in Raqqa, she was taken by IS fighters to the "black stadium", a football stadium converted into a prison and torture facility by the IS. She has said she was released without explanation after being tortured for around two months. Shortly afterward, she gave birth to her third child.[4][2]
While living in Raqqa, the family purchased two enslaved Yazidi girls, who were 17 and 14-years-old respectively at the time they were purchased. Sally has maintained that she attempted to keep the girls safe, but that her husband did rape the two of them repeatedly. Suad, who was 17 when she was bought by the family, has also maintained that Sally treated her well and tried to protect her from Elhassani. The family also purchased a younger Yazidi boy, close in age to Sally's eldest son.[4][3]
In August 2017, the Islamic State released a propaganda video featuring Sally's son threatening then-president of the U.S., Donald Trump. Moussa Elhassani was killed in a drone strike in September 2017. Sally said his death "felt like the noose had been taken off my neck". Sally and her children moved in with Elhassain's brother, Abdelhadi, who was living in the center of Raqqa. The group then moved to the city of Deir ez-Zor in October 2017 after being allowed to leave Raqqa.[4][1]
Escape
editWhile living in Deir ez-Zor in late 2017, Sally learned of a nearby people smuggler through one of her slaves. Sally paid the man in over 10oz of gold, and escaped with her four children and the family's three slaves while her brother-in-law, Abdelhadi Elhassani, was out of the house.[4] The smugger drove the eight into Kurdish-held territory.[1]
Samantha Sally and her four children were taken into the custody of the American-allied Kurdish militias YPG/YPJ on November 18, 2017; the three Yazidis they had enslaved were returned to Iraq. Sally and her children were first taken to the Kurdish base of Hassakeh and then to Roj camp.[4]
The family lived at the camp until July 2018.[4] During that time, Sally also helped cared for two young Trinidadian boys who had been brought to the Islamic State by their father.[6] On July 24, 2018, Sally and her children were flown back to the United States, where Sally was arrested.[7] Sally's children were taken into state care and put in the custody of her parents and her ex-husband, the father of her eldest son.[4]
Criminal charges
editUpon her return to the U.S., Sally was initially charged with lying to an FBI officer.[8] This was in connection to her role as an FBI informant prior to leaving the U.S. A month after her return, the additional charge of "providing material support for terrorism" was added.[4][9] Sally denied this charge, but in November 2019 pled guilty to the reduced charge of "providing financial support for terrorism" in the hopes of receiving a shortened prison sentence.[4][10]
On November 9, 2020, Sally was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.[5]
Personal life
editAs of 2018, Sally identified as Christian.[2]
In media
editSally's story has been covered in the BBC Sounds podcast I'm Not A Monster and in the 2020 Frontline and Panorama documentary Return from ISIS.[11][12]
In 2024, Jessica Roy published a book on the lives of Sam and her sister Lori, titled American Girls.[13][14][15]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Two Sisters and the Terrorist Who Came Between Them". ELLE. 2019-08-27. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ a b c d e Bauer, Shane. "Behind the Lines". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ a b c d Paton Walsh, Nick; Abdelaziz, Salma (2018-04-19). "Beaten, tortured, sexually abused: An American ISIS widow looks for a way home". CNN. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Baker, Josh. "'I'm not a monster'". BBC News. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ a b "Office of Public Affairs | Former Elkhart, Indiana Resident Sentenced to Over Six Years in Prison for Financing of Terrorism". United States Department of Justice. 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ Sherlock, Ruth; Al-Arian, Lama (2019-01-26). "Trinidadian Kids Taken Away To ISIS Reunite With Mom, Thanks To Help From A Rock Star". WAMU. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ "Two Americans, transferred to U.S. from Syria, will be tried in federal courts". The Washington Post. 2018-07-24.
- ^ Jacobs, Becky (2018-07-25). "Mom who said she followed husband to ISIS in Syria accused of lying to FBI in Indiana". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ "Elkhart, Ind. woman charged with supporting ISIS". ABC7 Chicago. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ "Office of Public Affairs | Former Indiana Resident Pleads Guilty to Concealing Terrorism Financing". United States Department of Justice. 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ "Return From ISIS". FRONTLINE. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ "BBC One - Panorama, Return from ISIS: A Family's Story". BBC. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ "How a Young Woman From the Ozarks Wound Up an ISIS Wife in Syria". The New York Times. 2024-01-16.
- ^ Burke, Caroline (2024-01-30). "How Does an American Woman End Up in an ISIS Stronghold in Syria? The Sally Sisters Tell Their Stories in a New Book". Katie Couric Media. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ "American Girls: One Woman's Journey into the Islamic State and Her Sister's Fight to Bring Her Home by Jessica Roy". Publishers Weekly. 2023-10-11. Retrieved 2024-11-08.