Trial of Kansas Teacher Who Joined ISIS Shows Family’s Deep Scars - The New York Times

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Leyla Ekren, a quiescent but scrappy miss from agrarian Kansas, mislaid her puerility successful Syria, wherever her parent dragged her aft warfare broke retired much than a decennary ago.

Even arsenic she fell sick with typhoid fever, her mother, a hardened militant who would ascend the ranks of the Islamic State, demanded that she undertake subject training. As delirium and symptom ravaged her caput and body, Leyla, past 10, recovered her effervescence evaporating. She conscionable wanted to die.

“I got person and person to death, my caput started to deteriorate,” she said. “My ribs showed done my tegument similar a ladder. My tummy was sunken successful similar a bowl. My chemoreceptor would bleed each the time. I would person random seizures arsenic my assemblage started to collapse. My parent did nothing.”

She survived, yet her mother, Allison Fluke-Ekren, again bent Leyla to her will, forcing the miss to wed an Islamic State combatant erstwhile she was 13. He raped Leyla. In the autumn of 2017, with the assistance of the U.S. government, Leyla, present respective months large and inactive successful her teens, made her mode location to Kansas, wherever she gave birth.

Years aft the United States declared triumph successful Syria, the harm wreaked by the Islamic State continues to reverberate to places arsenic acold arsenic Overbrook, Kan., a tiny municipality successful the mildly rolling hills extracurricular Topeka. Leyla’s relationship underscores the extent of those scars, a reminder that the aggravated suffering successful Syria did not conscionable enactment successful the Middle East.

Leyla Ekren, present 20, told her communicative for the archetypal clip successful nationalist connected Tuesday arsenic she watched a national justice successful Northern Virginia condemnation her parent to a maximum of 20 years successful prison. Trembling, Ms. Ekren recounted her mother’s maltreatment successful Syria. In a missive to the court, she besides accused her parent of molesting her.

“I felt degraded my full life,” Ms. Ekren said, struggling astatine times to decorativeness her statements. Her parent had joined her disconnected to a “random ISIS combatant arsenic a enactment slave,” she said, abandoning her successful Raqqa with “my rapist.”

Before the hearing, Raj Parekh, the archetypal adjunct U.S. lawyer for the Eastern District of Virginia, filed a sentencing memo describing the cruelty that Ms. Fluke-Ekren unleashed connected her children, including her oldest son, Gabriel Fluke, who spoke concisely astatine the sentencing.

Such memos often connection a modular recounting of the crimes, but Mr. Parekh sought to overgarment a brutal representation of Ms. Fluke-Ekren’s relentless maltreatment of her children and her unyielding devotion to extremism.

Ms. Fluke-Ekren “left a way of betrayal,” Mr. Parekh said, becoming “a violent subject leader, and successful effect, the empress of ISIS.” He added that she was “driven by fanaticism, power, manipulation, delusional invincibility and utmost cruelty.”

Dressed successful a achromatic hijab with a greenish garment that work “prisoner,” Ms. Fluke-Ekren, 42, vigorously denied abusing her girl oregon forcing her to marry, claiming it was Leyla’s decision.

Crying astatine times, Ms. Fluke-Ekren said, “I profoundly regret my choices.”

Ms. Fluke-Ekren grew up successful Lawrence, Kan., connected an 81-acre workplace that has belonged to her household for much than a century. She joined successful 1996, giving commencement to Gabriel and a daughter, Alaina, soon after. But the matrimony crumbled, and the mates divorced successful 2002. She was a “con artist,” her archetypal hubby recalled, a characterization echoed by their son, who described her arsenic “a monster.”

Ms. Fluke-Ekren radicalized her 2nd husband, household members say. In 2008, the household moved to Cairo, wherever Leyla and Gabriel said the beatings persisted. Conflicted astir whether to enactment to support his siblings, Gabriel chose to permission Egypt to unrecorded with his father.

By precocious 2011, the household was based successful Libya, wherever her girl said her stubborn quest to groom young recruits took clasp and her tendency to perpetrate convulsive attacks began. Ms. Fluke-Ekren hatched a program to usage a schoolhouse arsenic a subject grooming halfway for young women, hoping her hubby could transportation the Islamist militant radical Ansar al-Sharia to money the initiative. For immoderate girls, Leyla said, the grooming included watching videos of American soldiers appearing to sexually battle Iraqi women.

Ms. Fluke-Ekren and her hubby lived successful Benghazi astatine the clip of the 2012 attacks connected an American diplomatic compound and a adjacent C.I.A. base. After the attacks, which killed 4 Americans, she helped reappraisal and summarize documents stolen from the compound that were past provided to Ansar al-Sharia.

The schoolhouse yet failed. Disillusioned with Ansar al-Sharia, which seemingly was not convulsive enough, she forced her household to determination to Syria successful precocious 2012 oregon aboriginal 2013, wherever she joined the ranks of the Nusra Front, a Qaeda offshoot, and her hubby became a cardinal translator for the group. They lived astatine an abandoned mill connected the outskirts of Aleppo, prosecutors said.

Again, Ms. Fluke-Ekren insisted connected grooming young women, trying to found a battalion for girls, but the Nusra Front resisted. She near the radical and continued to bid her daughter, who contracted typhoid fever. Only aft her parent saw an accidental to unafraid wealth from her husband’s household did she instrumentality her to Turkey for aesculapian care, Leyla said. Her begetter remained successful Syria, wherever helium would emergence to oversee the grooming of Islamic State snipers.

The travel was grueling. As they crossed into Turkey, Leyla recalled, “I had to locomotion miles done fields with onshore mines,” adding that she had to “hide from the Turkish subject successful gangly writer portion I was convulsing.”

By 2015, they had moved to Mosul, Iraq, wherever Ms. Fluke-Ekren helped the Islamic State grip widows whose husbands had died fighting. The household returned to Syria, and Mr. Ekren was killed successful an airstrike arsenic helium conducted reconnaissance for a violent attack, prosecutors person said.

By Leyla’s account, her mother, nary longer capable to leverage her husband’s authority, forced her to wed an ISIS combatant successful 2015 successful a bid to summation governmental power successful the Islamic State to found a pistillate battalion. She yet succeeded, grooming women and girls successful Raqqa, Syria, to go acquainted with AK-47 battle rifles, grenades and termination belts. Ms. Fluke-Ekren besides aspired to onslaught the United States, including a buying halfway and a assemblage successful the Midwest.

One matrimony gave mode to another: archetypal to a Bangladeshi antheral moving for the Islamic State who specialized successful drones and planned to driblet chemic bombs utilizing them, past to a person for the Islamic State subject who was liable for defending Raqqa. He aboriginal died successful battle.

In total, Ms. Fluke-Ekren gave commencement to 11 children and adopted 1 child, leaving a way of familial wreckage. Two died successful Syria, including an babe and 5-year-old Zaid, who was killed successful a rocket strike. Her oldest daughter, Alaina, remains missing portion different lad is surviving successful Turkey. Six others are successful foster homes successful Virginia.

“Hi, Mom,” she said. “If you spot this video, delight interaction me.” Describing the horrors of Raqqa, she said that her husband, an ISIS fighter, was killed successful an airstrike and that they were expecting a child.

Ms. Fluke-Ekren was not successful the United States, but successful Syria, wherever she would wed yet again. Confident that her parent would effort to find her, Leyla acceptable up a societal media relationship and, coordinating with F.B.I. officials anxious to way her down, planned to surreptitiously grounds their exchanges.

In December 2020, Ms. Fluke-Ekren contacted her girl implicit an encrypted messaging application: “I’m frightened too, I’m wondering if possibly I’m talking to the F.B.I., I don’t know. Please tin you conscionable nonstop maine a message.”

Days later, Leyla responded, concealing that agents had pressed her astir Ms. Fluke-Ekren for respective years and reassuring her parent that the F.B.I. had nary involvement successful her.

“That’s precise good,” Ms. Fluke-Ekren replied. “And you’re doing great, I americium arrogant of you.” One day, she added, her girl would instrumentality to Syria.

Ms. Fluke-Ekren soon reached retired again. She rationalized the deaths of Mr. Ekren and Zaid, believing her origin was just. “You don’t consciousness regret,” she said.

In the summertime of past year, Ms. Fluke-Ekren was detained by chartless forces successful Syria. After arresting her successful January, F.B.I. agents questioned her astir her adopted child. Mr. Ekren was the father, she said, hiding a acold grimmer reality.

In fact, the child’s parents were killed successful a termination onslaught successful Syria, 1 that Ms. Fluke-Ekren had encouraged, according to tribunal documents. The mother, whom Ms. Fluke-Ekren had befriended, balked astatine carrying retired the onslaught due to the fact that she was pregnant.

But Ms. Fluke-Ekren assured the parent she would rise the kid if she carried retired the bombing. She fulfilled her promise, Mr. Parekh said.