Jury finds Halima Salman guilty of receiving Islamic State weapons training in Syria

A New York woman was convicted on Tuesday of receiving weapons training from Islamic State fighters. Halima Salman, a 27-year-old U.S. citizen, was found guilty by a federal jury in New York. The verdict follows a trial that examined her time in Syria between 2017 and 2019. Prosecutors argued she willingly participated in the militant group's activities after pledging loyalty to them.

Salman’s case centers on her teenage years in Syria. She was 17 when her father took the family to Turkey in 2017 under the pretense of visiting relatives. The van crossed into Syria, where masked gunmen surrounded the vehicle. Salman said she was frightened and confused during the crossing. Her father arranged her marriage to an Islamic State fighter when she was 18. She testified that she refused the union and attempted to secure a divorce multiple times.

During the trial, jurors viewed a video of Salman holding an assault rifle. They also saw a photo of her with the group's flag and text messages she sent to her husband. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Shami stated in closing arguments that the evidence proved Salman received military training from a violent organization responsible for global attacks. The defense presented Salman as a trapped teenager who obeyed her husband's orders to survive. Salman testified, "You try to leave, it is death."

The jury began deliberations on Thursday. Salman burst into tears upon hearing the verdict. A relative in the front row also cried and reached across the railing to comfort her. The judge stepped out of the courtroom to confer with jurors before setting a sentencing date. Salman was detained in Baghouz, Syria, in 2019 by forces opposing Islamic State. She returned to New York in 2024, where U.S. authorities arrested her.

Salman described her final year of marriage as harrowing due to constant bombings. She recalled seeing dead bodies in the streets during those months. The couple fled in a truck, and she told her husband they were separating. She never saw him again. Her father died in 2018 after injuries sustained in an airstrike. Prosecutors disputed her account of a poor marriage by highlighting two loving messages she sent her husband during their time together.

Islamic State lost its territorial control in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in 2019. The group maintains sleeper cells in both countries that continue to carry out attacks. Salman was born in Brooklyn and spent three months in Islamic State housing before reuniting with her family in Syria. The family moved twice because their homes were struck by airstrikes.