American Isis bride Hoda Muthana pleads with US authorities to return home from Syria
Twenty-four-year-old found living in same camp as British teenager Shamima Begum
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Your support makes all the difference.Less than 24-hours after Isis bride Shamima Begum asked to return to the UK from Syria, an American woman in the same Syrian refugee camp has has pleaded to return home.
Hoda Muthana said she deeply regreted joining the terrorist group.
The 24-year-old left her home in Alabama four years ago and is now living with her 18-month-old son in the al-Hawl refugee camp – the same facility where Ms Begum is being held.
The American became a high-profile advocate of Isis’ campaign of violence across Iraq and Syria on Twitter, but has claimed she was brainwashed by the group.
Ms Muthana told The Guardian she and other recruits had misunderstood the Islamic faith
“I look back now and I think I was very arrogant," she said. "Now I’m worried about my son’s future... I was brainwashed once and my friends are still brainwashed.
“We were basically in the time of ignorance. I thought I was doing things correctly for the sake of God.”
Ms Muthana told the newspaper she married three times in Syria; both her first and second jihadist husbands died in the fighting.
She said she and her son fled from Susa, close to the current frontline in Baghuz, around six weeks ago.
The American slept in the desert for two nights being before captured by Kurdish forces and taken to al-Hawl.
Ms Muthana is reportedly the only US citizen among an estimated 1,500 foreign women and children at the huge camp for Isis family members, now home to almost 40,000 people.
She is begging US authorities to allow her to return home to Alabama.
“I would tell them please forgive me for being so ignorant, and I was really young and ignorant and I was 19 when I decided to leave,” she said. “I believe that America gives second chances. I want to return and I’ll never come back to the Middle East. America can take my passport and I wouldn’t mind.”
An intense debate has erupted in Britain over the fate of Ms Begum since was tracked down by reporters at al-Hawl earlier this week.
Several ministers, including the home secretary Sajid Javid, have insisted she will not be permitted to return to the UK.
Others, including the head of MI6, Alex Younger, have warned she could still be a potential threat.
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