Indiana Woman Samantha Sally Claims Husband Duped Her Into Joining ISIS

An Elkhart, Indiana, woman claimed in a recent interview she and her children were duped by her husband into joining Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria and that she wished to return home to the United States.

In an interview with CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh, 32-year-old Samantha Sally said four years ago her family left their home in Indiana for a vacation in Turkey and it was during this trip her husband, Moussa Elhassani, forced her and her children into joining the jihadist terrorist organization.

Now in Syrian Kurdish custody, Sally will have to prove her innocence in the incident apart from explaining to the U.S. authorities how her husband died fighting for the ISIS.

Speaking to CNN, Sally said she had no choice at the time. She also revealed how her husband became abusive, bought teenage Yazidi sex slaves and made her 10-year-old son appear in one of ISIS’s propaganda videos.

Reports stated Sally along with her children, 10-year-old Matthew, 5-year-old Sarah and the youngest two, whose names or ages have not been revealed, currently live in an ISIS caliphate, in Syrian custody.

During the interview, Sally recalled how she was led to a border town in 2014 and was tricked into crossing it.

"The position I was in was to stay there with my son or watch my daughter leave with my husband, and I had to make a decision. I thought — like I said — we could just walk across the border and we could come back again,” she said.

Speaking further about her husband, she said, “Before, he used to spoil me — 'I love you.' I mean, we were very much in love. The romance never left. As soon as we came here it was completely different. Everything was completely different. I was a dog. I didn't have any choice. It was extremely violent."

Sally also spoke about the two teenage Yazidi girls, Soad and Bedrine, and also a younger boy named Aham and mentioned how her husband raped the girls repeatedly.

When asked whether she felt guilty of enabling serial rape on the young girls, Sally said, “No, because it would have been so much worse with anybody else. And no, no one will ever be able to imagine what it's like to watch their husband rape a 14-year-old girl. Ever. And then she comes to you — comes to me — after crying and I hold her and tell her, 'It's going to be ok. Everything is going to be fine, just be patient.' I would never apologize for bringing those girls to my house. We knew that if we were just patient we would stick through it together. You understand? I was like their mother."

Elhassani was reportedly killed by a drone strike late last year.

Sally confirmed the FBI interviewed them and have filed no charges. However, she added, they also did not send any tickets for her to go home.

"We want to eat McDonald's. You know, we want to live a normal life for us again," she said.