Israeli-Arab Mother-of-5 Sentenced to 22 Months in Prison for Trying to Join ISIS
by JNS.org
JNS.org – Israeli-Arab mother-of-five Ayman Kanjou, 44, on Tuesday was sentenced to 22 months in prison for attempting to join the Islamic State terror group.
Kanjou was charged with contacting a foreign agent and attempting to exit Israel illegally, and was sentenced by the Haifa District Court as part of a plea deal. She was given an additional suspended sentence of one year and a fine of about $7,800.
Kanjou has a doctoral degree in Islam from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. She was arrested in August after flying to Turkey with her father for a family trip and then disappearing. Israeli and Turkish security forces worked together to arrest her when she tried to cross the border into Syria with a few dozen other individuals from various countries.
In her interrogation, Kanjou admitted that she had been thinking about joining Islamic State, leading her to make contact with an operative from the terror group who promised to help her enter Syria.