Rojava Information Center

During our brief conversation, Ms Gondal stated she wishes to be repatriated back to the UK; “The women and the children [of ISIS] became the victims… If I did not harm anyone, if I committed no harm in Syria for 4 years, what kind of threat can I be to Britain?” [5/22]

We can now fill in some of the missing time after her propaganda fell quiet in 2016. After the death of her first husband, the Lebanese recruiter, Ms Gondal says she married at least one more man, a Pakistani fighter who was killed in Khsham village. [8/22]

Following his death, she spent “a year and a half… always having to move from one village to another” in the Deir Ez-Zor region as ISIS was eradicated: “We didn't know who’s on the left attacking us, who's on the right... who are we even with... It was a complete mess.” [9/22]

At some point, she was injured by what she says was shrapnel from regime fire, and still has a scar between her eyebrows: “[ISIS] stitched over it, I don’t know if they were doctors or amateurs… now I have a big nerve problem in my head… vomiting, dizziness…” [10/22]

2 months ago, she & a group of women paid a smuggler to leave. They travelled “through the desert, moving from car to car over five days,” aiming for Turkey. But she was stopped at "the Kurdish checkpoint... 15 minutes close to the border of Turkey," searched & detained. [11/22]

Ms Gondal complained that the SDF confiscated their possessions: “they took our money, they took our gold, all our electronics, we have to start life from zero.” She says she still has her passport, however, keeping it sewn in her 2-year-old son’s diapers. [12/22]

She says she’s grateful for the provision of monthly food rations and solar charging panels, but complains about the living conditions in the camp: uncleanliness, long queues at the camp shop, and “no schooling” for her children. [13/22]

Camp officials say these complaints should be treated with caution. For example, education is in fact provided by an NGO, but the ISIS women refuse to send their children. They also refused a donation of textbooks since they included pictures, in violation of Sharia law. [14/22]

If ISIS members like Ms Gombal are simply left to rot in camps like Ayn Issa or Hol, the result will be worse than mere “bad manners”. In Ayn Issa, @RojavaIC saw children flashing the raised index finger of ISIS, & shouting at a woman visiting the camp to cover her head. [18/22]

As such, Loqman Ehmê of the Autonomous Administration in NE Syria told @RojavaIC they need international support to build up an “international court in North East Syria... Guilty people within ISIS can be identified by local witnesses and get their just punishment." [19/22]

Regarding Ms Gombal’s young children and others like them, Mr Ehmê said: “As for ISIS families who have not been involved in combat, their countries can take them back and educate them to be free from [ISIS] ideology.” [20/22]