Umm Sayyaf

Widow of Abu Sayyaf

Umm Sayyaf

Born| Nasrin As'ad Ibrahim
نسرين أسعد إبراهيم
Iraq
Arrested| May 16, 2015
Eastern Syria
Delta Force
Citizenship| Iraq
Charge(s)| Participation in the sexual abuse of two Yazidi children and participation in the alleged conspiracy to murder Kayla Mueller[1]
Penalty| Life imprisonment
Status| Currently jailed in Iraqi Kurdistan
Spouse| Abu Sayyaf

Nasrin As'ad Ibrahim (Arabic: نسرين أسعد إبراهيم), better known by the nom de guerre Umm Sayyaf (Arabic: ام سياف), is the widow of Abu Sayyaf. She was captured in May 2015 by US Delta Force soldiers on the mission where they killed her husband, a suspected leader of the Islamic State.[2][3][4]

During the raid Delta Force soldiers were also reported to have rescued a young Yazidi woman the couple had been keeping as a slave. National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan stated, "We suspect that Umm Sayyaf is a member of ISIL, played an important role in ISIL's terrorist activities, and may have been complicit in the enslavement of the young woman rescued last night."[2][3]

Umm Sayyaf is believed to be an Iraqi citizen.[3][5][6][7][4]

Initial reports said that she was in US custody in Iraq. On August 6, 2015 Umm Sayyaf was turned over to the Kurdish regional authorities in Erbil.[5][4][8] James Gordon Meek, of ABC News noted some American prosecutors wanted to try to prosecute her in the US justice system.[9] He characterized the Kurdish justice system as being "known for lightning-swift justice."

According to John Knefel, reporting for Al Jazeera, legal critics have challenged the Obama administration for a lack of transparency over the justification for holding Umm Sayyaf in extrajudicial detention.[10] He said, "The administration's secrecy surrounding the conditions of her imprisonment have led some lawyers and legal analysis to raise questions about what rights and protections she's being afforded, and what policy guidelines will govern treatment of new detainees in what some now refer to as the Forever War."[10]

The family of American hostage Kayla Mueller reported that they had been told that, during her captivity, she was imprisoned by Abu Sayyaf and Umm Sayyaf and sexually abused by Abu Sayyaf before she was taken as a wife and sexually abused by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.[9][8] Yazidi girls, who had been held as sex slaves by Abu Sayyaf, and who later escaped, were the first to report that Mueller was also sexually abused before her death.[8] Interrogation of various individuals by intelligence officials seemed to indicate that al-Baghdadi had been Mueller's primary abuser.[9]

On February 8, 2016, Sayyaf was charged by American prosecutors in Virginia with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization that resulted in a person's death. The federal charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.[11][12]

In May 2019, it was reported that she had been cooperating with the CIA and Kurdish intelligence in the hunt for al-Baghdadi.[13]

## References

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1. ^ Harris, Nancy A. Youssef Shane (2 March 2016). "U.S. Captures Second ISIS Fighter. Now the Interrogation Begins". The Daily Beast - via www.thedailybeast.com.
2. ^ a b Bernadette Meehan (2015-05-16), "Statement by NSC Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on Counter-ISIL Operation in Syria", whitehouse.gov, archived from the original on 2017-01-22 - via National Archives, "We suspect that Umm Sayyaf is a member of ISIL, played an important role in ISIL's terrorist activities, and may have been complicit in the enslavement of the young woman rescued last night."
3. ^ a b c Barbara Starr, Laura Smith-Spark and Ray Sanchez (2015-05-17). "Abu Sayyaf, key ISIS figure in Syria, killed in raid". CNN. Archived from the original on 2015-06-12. Retrieved 2015-05-17. "The officials identified Sayyaf's captured wife as Umm Sayyaf, an Iraqi. She is now being held in Iraq."
4. ^ a b c Rudaw (2015-08-10). "ISIS' Umm Sayyaf to be sentenced in Kurdistan". Erbil: Rudaw Company. Retrieved 2015-08-15. "US forces handed over the criminal Nasrin As'ad Ibrahim (Umm Sayyaf) to the Kurdistan region security council for a trial."
5. ^ a b Shane Harris, Nancy A. Youssef (2015-06-11). "U.S. Has No Idea How Long It Will Keep an ISIS Bride Locked Up". Daily Beast. "Umm Sayyaf is being detained by the Defense Department in a safe location inside Iraq," Lt. Col. Myles Caggins, the Defense Department's spokesman for detainee policy, told The Daily Beast. "We are working to determine an ultimate disposition for the detainee that best supports the national security of the United States and of our allies and partners, consistent with domestic and international law."
6. ^ Will Dunham, Matt Spetalnick (2015-05-16). "U.S. conducts raid in Syria, says it kills senior Islamic State leader". Washington DC: Reuters. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
7. ^ Ashton Carter (2015-06-16). "Carter: Special Operations Troops Conduct Raid in Syria". Washington DC: United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-07-01. "Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced in a statement today that U.S. special operations forces yesterday conducted an operation in Syria to capture a senior leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist organization."
8. ^ a b c Ken Dilanian, AP (2015-08-15). "Family says daughter raped repeatedly while held by IS". MSN. Retrieved 2015-08-15. "Mueller was held for a time by Islamic State financier Abu Sayyaf and his wife, known as Umm Sayyaf. Al-Baghdadi took Mueller as a "wife," repeatedly raping her when he visited, according to a Yazidi teenager who was held with Mueller and escaped in October 2014."
9. ^ a b c James Gordon Meek (2015-08-14). "ISIS Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Sexually Abused American Hostage Kayla Mueller, Officials Say". Washington DC: ABC News. Retrieved 2015-08-14. "The information about al-Baghdadi's extraordinary direct role in the captivity and physical abuse of Kayla Mueller was drawn from, among many sources, the U.S. debriefings of at least least [sic] two Yezedi teenage girls, ages 16 and 18, held as sex slaves in the Sayyaf compound as well as from the interrogation of Abu Sayyaf's wife Umm Sayyaf, who was captured in the U.S. raid, the officials told ABC News."
10. ^ a b John Knefel. "US vague on status of detained 'ISIL widow'". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 2015-07-01. "For the last two months, however, the US has once again found itself in the business of detaining a prisoner in this ill-defined and seemingly endless battle."
11. ^ "Criminal complaint".
12. ^ "Kayla Mueller's death results in terrorist charges for ISIS leader's wife", by Reuters, via CBC.ca
13. ^ Chulov, Martin (31 May 2019). "Isis wife reveals role in helping CIA hunt for Baghdadi". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 May 2019.