Off the wire
• Feature: Chinese enable me to meet our president: Kenyan excavator operator  • Egypt's police general shot dead in Sinai  • Chinese lend hands to Kenya's environment protection  • Gunmen kill judge, 3 bodyguards in Iraq's Kirkuk  • Leftist rebels abduct soldier in S. Philippines  • Backgrounder: Sino-U.S. joint venture Flagship Entertainment  • China Media Capital, Warner Bros. establish joint venture to tap global film market  • 1st LD: "Permanent" ceasefire reached in 3 Syrian flashpoints  • Interview: China's reforms "suitable" to spur economic growth: Argentine economist  • China issues regulation to safeguard lawyers' rights  
You are here: 　 Home

Israel indicts mother of five for attempting to join the Islamic State

Xinhua, September 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

An Israeli Arab mother of five was charged Sunday for attempting to join the Islamic State (IS), Israel's Shin Bet security service said.

The Haifa District Attorney's Office charged Iman Kanju, a 44-year-old resident from the northern town of Shefar'am, with attempting to illegally leave the country and contact with a foreign agent.

According to the indictment, filed at the Haifa District Court in northern Israel, she made contact via facebook with a member of the IS.

Kanju, who holds a Ph.D. in Islamic studies, "volunteered to teach the IS activists the Islamic law to raise their spirit and increase their motivation to fight," according to the indictment.

On Aug. 19, she traveled to Turkey with her father and then tried to continue alone her journey to Syria, but the Turkish authorities arrested her before she managed to cross the border.

She was deported back to Israel, where she was arrested.

Kanju's family was shocked by the indictment. "She never spoke or thought of joining the IS. I find it hard to believe that this story is true," one of her family members told Israel's Ynet new site.

Dozens of Arab Israelis were arrested and underwent legal proceedings in the past year under suspicion that they have gone to Syria or planned to do so in order to join the Islamic State.

Israel outlawed any affiliation with the group last year. Endit