OSLO, Norway (AX) — two sisters, originally from Somalia, now facing the music in the land of fjords and trolls. Nearly a decade ago, these young women vanished into the shadows, embarking on a dangerous voyage to Syria at an age when most teenagers are just learning to drive. Their destination? The notorious ranks of the Islamic State, where their future was anything but a fairy tale. Their journey reached a pivotal juncture last Friday, January 24, when the Oslo District Court unrolled its verdict: guilty of membership in the extremist group. The older sister, now 31, got a four-year stint, while the younger, at 27, received two years, albeit with a one-year respite. The legal system had taken its cue from the prosecutors, weaving its decision around their recommendations.
While living under the oppressive regime, the court identified their roles, primarily as dutiful wives and mothers, adopting responsibilities that were “as much as women could and were expected to” offer. Their claims of coercion, however, were met with skepticism, as evidence apparently stood tall enough to declare them guilty.
Fast forward to March 2023, the sisters were spiriting away from the scorching landscapes of northeastern Syria back to Norway, courtesy of Norwegian authorities, who cited the well-being of their offspring as a primary concern. At that time, they found themselves in the infamous Roj detention camp, an enclave helmed by Kurdish forces. This facility housed an eclectic mix of foreign nationals tangled with extremist webs. In the backdrop of this journey, the older sibling embraced motherhood with two daughters, while her younger counterpart had one, all offspring of their time nestled within Syrian quarters.
The trail to extremism began on Norwegian soil. Imagine, if you will, two curious minds attending a Quran class recommended by their mother, worrying her cubs were drifting too close to the Western breeze. Knocking on the mosque’s door for guidance set off a cascade, unwittingly opening a portal to a radical world. They were drawn in, like a moth to the flame.
In the crisp month of October 2013, at 16 and 19, they stealthily left Norway, leaving loved ones bewildered with tales of joining a rebellion against Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Once crossing the chaotic threshold into Syria, they walked down the aisle with ISIS fighters and settled into a semblance of domestic life in the caliphate. They inhabited dwellings once belonging to displaced Syrians, trophies of war under ISIS’s narrative.
During the not-so-golden days of ISIS in 2014 and 2015, the sisters mingled with the crème de la crème of the extremist group in the bustling hub of Raqqa. While they rubbed shoulders with hierarchs, their father, Sadiq, a man with a past as tumultuous as the present—having been a child soldier in Somalia and later seeking refuge in Norway during the 1990s—embarked on a quixotic endeavor. Like a character out of an adventure novel, he made several nail-biting attempts to rescue his daughters, even crossing paths with armed factions in the tumultuous Syrian landscape.
One such account, popularized through Åsne Seierstad’s “Two Sisters,” alleges alliances with groups potentially as murky as the al-Nusra Front, though such tales are embroidered in the fabric of Sadiq’s recollections, themselves not always cemented in hard facts. Entangled in desperation and grief, his appeals fell on deaf ears, unwelcomed by daughters who steadfastly shunned his calls to return to Norway.
The curtains close in Norway with the sisters’ identities protected under local laws, ensuring privacy as legal avenues for appeal remain ajar. A saga swirling with elements of tragedy, a glimpse of hope, and the ever-complicated human condition. One might ponder, did they stumble too far down the rabbit hole? Their narrative is a whirlwind, blurring the lines between victim and protagonist. And so, this chapter wraps with anticipation hanging in the Norwegian air.
Report by Axadle
