Kimberly Gwen Polman

Last updated
Kimberly Gwen Polman
Born (1972-09-29) September 29, 1972 (age 52)
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Nationality Canada
United States

Kimberly Gwen Polman (born September 29, 1972) is a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen, who travelled to ISIS occupied territory in 2015, and married an Islamic militant she had befriended online. [1] [2] [3] In 2019, after she surrendered to forces allied to the United States, Polman told reporters she deeply regretted her actions. [4]

Contents

Early life

Born September 29, 1972. Polman's mother is American, and her father Canadian. She was raised as a Reformed Mennonite, but later converted to Islam. [1]

In 2011, the Soroptimist International issued her a Women's Opportunity Award. [5] Her citation said she was working on a diploma in Legal Administration, and planned to work as a children's advocate. [6]

Time in Syria

Polman had taken an interest in nursing, and her online penpal, who said his name was Abu Aymen, told her that her nursing skills were needed in the caliphate. The two later married. [1]

In early 2015, Polman travelled from Vancouver to Istanbul on her US passport. She told her family that she was going to Austria for two weeks. [1]

Polman says she had grown disenchanted with Daesh by 2016, and tried to escape. [1] She says she was captured, and imprisoned, in Raqqa, where she endured brutal interrogation and rape. [2]

Polman was held in the al-Hawl refugee camp in Syria, where she was held with New Jersey-born Hoda Muthana. [7] Polman left three adult children in Canada when she travelled to Istanbul. [8] Polman's siblings told The New York Times that she had a hard life, and that they had been unable to help her. [9] Howard Eisenberg, an immigration lawyer in Polman's home town, told local reporters for CHCH-TV that he anticipates her struggle to return to Hamilton to be a long one. [10] Polman was arrested by Canadian authorities upon her arrival in Montreal Canada from Syria on October 26 under Section 810 of the Canadian Criminal Code. Her lawyer said authorities are seeking a peace bond. [11]

Ian Austen, one of The New York Times's Canadian correspondents wrote about Polman, after discussing her with Rukmini Callimachi, The New York Times's reporter who first found her, in the refugee camp in Syria. [12] He wrote that Callimachi speculated that she first identified herself as a Canadian to her American captors because she would be treated more leniently, as a Canadian, only to realize that Canadians were "in limbo". Callamachi speculated that Polman started to identify as an American when she realized that while Americans might face prosecution upon repatriation, at least they were being repatriated.

Polman's case was one profiled in a study by the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, as to whether individuals had been recruited to join ISIS solely through online coaching. [13] Her interviews revealed she was lonely and vulnerable following a brutal gang-rape left her alienated from her children and community. She believed her recruiter who promised her she could restore her honour, and purity, if only she came to Daesh to volunteer her nursing skills. [13]

Related Research Articles

Mohammed Khalifa is a Canadian citizen who traveled to Islamic State-occupied territory, where he narrated Islamic State war videos.

Rukmini Maria Callimachi is a Romanian-born American journalist. She currently works for The New York Times. She had been a Pulitzer Prize finalist four times. She hosted the New York Times podcast Caliphate, for which won a Peabody Award, but the Times returned the award after an investigation cast doubt on a significant portion of the podcast.

The condition of human rights in the territory controlled by the Islamic State (IS) is considered to be among the worst in the world. The Islamic State's policies included acts of genocide, torture and slavery. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) stated in November 2014 that the Islamic State "seeks to subjugate civilians under its control and dominate every aspect of their lives through terror, indoctrination, and the provision of services to those who obey". Many Islamic State actions of extreme criminality, terror, recruitment and other activities have been documented in the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kayla Mueller</span> American aid worker and ISIS captive (1988–2015)

Kayla Jean Mueller was an American human rights activist and humanitarian aid worker from Prescott, Arizona, United States. She was taken captive in August 2013 in Aleppo, Syria, after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital. Media reported that a 26-year-old American aid worker was being held by ISIS without naming her, at her family's request. In 2015, she was killed in uncertain circumstances. The operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named Operation Kayla Mueller, in her honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaysh al-Nukhba</span> Syrian Rebel Group

The Jaysh al-Nukhba (Elite Army, formerly called the Liberation Army is a group operating in the Hama and Aleppo Governorates, backed and supported by Turkey. The group was formed from five units, some of which received BGM-71 TOW missiles from the United States.

Amaq News Agency is a news outlet linked to the Islamic State (IS). Amaq is often the "first point of publication for claims of responsibility" for terrorist attacks in Western countries by the Islamic State. In March 2019, Amaq News Agency was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States Department of State.

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a British-Iraqi researcher and analyst who specialises in the Syrian Civil War, War in Iraq (2013–2017) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. He has been consulted as an expert by major media outlets including Al Jazeera,The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, and others. He authored a major report published by the New York Times in partnership with George Washington University in their 2020 series, "The ISIS report". He has faced criticism over his alleged sympathies towards ISIL in his work, as well as his conduct and alleged close relationships with ISIL fighters.

On September 1, 2017, American officials announced they had recently taken custody of an American ISIS fighter who wasn't immediately identified. In December 2017, it was revealed that he was a joint citizen of the United States and Saudi Arabia. He was the first captive the USA called an enemy combatant since 2009.

Shehroze Chaudhry is a Canadian who gained international attention under the pseudonym Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi as the subject of Caliphate, a podcast hosted by Rukmini Callimachi of The New York Times. He had claimed that in 2014, he emptied his bank account, traveled to Syria, and joined the terrorist group Islamic State (IS), where he remained until 2016. In the wake of the podcast's release, Conservative MPs called on the government to find and arrest al-Kanadi amid rumours that he had returned to Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Baghuz Fawqani</span> Battle during the Syrian Civil War involving the Islamic State and Syrian Democratic Forces

The Battle of Baghuz Fawqani was an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), assisted by Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) coalition airstrikes, artillery, and special forces personnel, that began on 9 February 2019 as part of the Deir ez-Zor campaign of the Syrian Civil War. The battle—which was composed of a series of ground assaults—took place in and around the Syrian town of Al-Baghuz Fawqani in the Middle Euphrates River Valley near the Iraq–Syria border, and was the territorial last stand of the Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria.

Shamima Begum is a British-born woman who entered Syria to join the Islamic State at the age of 15 in 2015. As of 2024, she is living in al-Roj detention camp in Syria.

Hoda Muthana is a U.S.-born Yemeni woman who emigrated from the United States to Syria to join ISIS in November 2014. She surrendered in January 2019 to coalition forces fighting ISIS in Syria and has been denied access back to the United States after a U.S. court ruling rejected her claim to American citizenship. When she was born, her father was a Yemeni diplomat, making her ineligible for American citizenship by birth.

Beginning in 2012, dozens of girls and women traveled to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State (IS), becoming brides of Islamic State fighters. While some traveled willingly, including three British schoolgirls known as the Bethnal Green trio, others were brought to Iraq and Syria as minors by their parents or family or forcefully. Some attempted to travel but were prevented.

Zehra Duman is an Australian-born Turkish woman who travelled to Daesh territory where she married a jihadi fighter. Born in Melbourne, Duman is reported to have been a friend of Tara Nettleton and Khaled Sharrouf, who travelled from Australia to Daesh territory, with their five children, in 2014. Duman's online recruiting activities have been the subject of scholarly attention.

Lisa Smith is a former Irish soldier who converted to Islam and later travelled to Syria during the Syrian Civil War to join the militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) during the Syrian Civil War. Born in Dundalk, she was a member of the Irish Army before transferring to the Irish Air Corps in 2011, but quit following her conversion to Islam. In 2015, following the breakdown of her marriage, she travelled to Syria to join ISIS. In 2019, she was captured and detained by the US forces in northern Syria. She was sentenced at the Irish Special Criminal Court on 22 July 2022 to 15 months in prison following her conviction on 30 May of membership of Daesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Hawl refugee camp</span> Refugee camp in Syria

The al-Hawl refugee camp is a refugee camp on the southern outskirts of the town of al-Hawl in northern Syria, close to the Syria-Iraq border, which holds individuals displaced from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The camp is nominally controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) but according to the U.S. Government, much of the camp is run by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who use the camp for indoctrination and recruitment purposes.

Daniela Greene, born in Czechoslovakia in 1980 and raised in Germany, became an American citizen after marrying a US Armed Services member. She earned her bachelor's degree in Oklahoma and a master's degree in history from Clemson University in 2008. In 2011, she joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a contract linguist with the help of her thesis supervisor, Alan Grubb. Greene was assigned to communicate with Denis Cuspert, an ISIL member, during a covert FBI investigation in 2014. However, she secretly used an additional Skype account to communicate with Cuspert and traveled to ISIL-occupied Syria, where they married and she became a ISIL bride.

Mariam Dabboussy is an Australian woman who lived in Daesh controlled Syria.

<i>Caliphate</i> (podcast) History podcast

Caliphate is a narrative podcast published by The New York Times in 2018 which covers the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). It was hosted by reporter Rukmini Callimachi. The central figure of the podcast was Pakistani-Canadian Shehroze Chaudhry, who described in detail atrocities he claimed to have committed in Syria for ISIL. Concerns were raised that his story was a fabrication or a grave misrepresentation, and in 2020 Chaudhry was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's O Division Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (OINSET) for lying about participating in terrorist activities. Following his arrest, The New York Times admitted to a severe editorial failing and retracted Chaudry's story.

<i>The Return: Life After ISIS</i> 2021 British-Spanish documentary film

The Return: Life After ISIS is a 2021 British-Spanish documentary film directed and co-produced by Alba Sotorra. It follows Shamima Begum and Hoda Muthana as they leave ISIS and attempt to return to their countries.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Natalie Musumeci (2019-02-20). "Another ISIS bride pleading to come home to US or Canada". New York Post . Archived from the original on 2019-02-21. Retrieved 2019-02-20. A dual citizen of the US and Canada, who left the Great White North four years ago to join ISIS, is holed up in a refugee camp in Syria with the Alabama "ISIS bride" — and pleading to return home, according to a report.
  2. 1 2 "Canadian woman who left to join ISIS in Syria wants to come home". Canoe.ca . 2019-02-21. Archived from the original on 2019-02-22. The woman claims she tried to escape the camp a year after her arrival. She said she was captured, imprisoned, interrogated and raped.
  3. ↑ Kelly McLaughlin (2019-02-19). "ISIS brides from Canada, the US, and Europe are asking to return home years after fleeing for Syria. Here are their stories". This is insider . Archived from the original on 2019-02-22. Polman told The Times she wasn't interested in the violent crimes ISIS participated in, and didn't know what to believe was real.
  4. ↑ "An American ISIS Militant Wife Who Left For Syria Now Wants To Come Back Home". News World India . 2019-02-20. Archived from the original on 2019-02-24. Retrieved 2019-02-20. Kimberly Gwen Polman, who possess dual citizenship of the United States and Canadian. Both women, interviewed by The New York Times at the camp, said they were trying to figure out how to have their passports reissued, and how to win the sympathy of the two nations they scorned.
  5. ↑ Charlie Smith (2019-02-20). "Former Vancouver-area woman travelled abroad to marry ISIS member, according to New York Times". Georgia Straight . Archived from the original on 2019-02-21. Retrieved 2019-02-20. The New York Times reported that Kimberly Gwen Polman, 46, married an Islamic State fighter whom she met online.
  6. ↑ "11th annual Women's Recognition Awards". Tri-city News . 2011-03-18. p. 14. Archived from the original on 2019-02-22. Retrieved 2019-02-20. Kimberly Polman - Single mom of three children is currently a student at Douglas College working on her Legal Administration Diploma. Her ultimate goal is to work as a child advocate.
  7. ↑ Kim Hjelmgaard, Michael Collins (2019-02-19). "President Trump: ISIS wife Hoda Muthana won't be allowed to return to the United States". USA Today . Archived from the original on 2019-02-21. Retrieved 2019-02-20. All were taken into custody. Muthana may be the first American spouse or partner of an Islamic State fighter who has sought to return home. The New York Times has reported that another woman, dual U.S.-Canadian national Kimberly Gwen Polman, 46, is also in the al-hawl refugee camp in Syria. She left Canada in 2015.
  8. ↑ Rukmini Callimachi, Catherine Porter (2019-02-19). "2 American Wives of ISIS Militants Want to Return Home". The New York Times . al Hawl Camp, Syria. p. A1. Archived from the original on 2019-02-22. Retrieved 2019-02-20. Ms. Muthana and Ms. Polman acknowledged in the interview here that many Americans would question whether they deserved to be brought back home after joining one of the world's deadliest terrorist groups.
  9. ↑ Rukmini Callimachi, Catherine Porter, Carmela Fragomeni (2019-02-20). "Hamilton-born ISIL bride wants to come home". The Hamilton Spectator . al Hawl Camp, Syria. Archived from the original on 2019-02-21. Retrieved 2019-02-20. Kimberly Gwen Polman, 46, surrendered last month to coalition forces fighting ISIL and is detained in a camp in northeastern Syria, along with an Alabama woman, Hodan Muthana.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "Hamilton-born woman who joined ISIS wants to come home". CHCH-TV . 2019-02-21. Archived from the original on 2019-02-24. Retrieved 2019-02-22. Hamilton immigration lawyer Howard Eisenberg says Polman's journey back to Canada could be a very lengthy one and it would begin by the Canadian government either revoking her Canadian passport or denying her application for a new one.
  11. ↑ Burke, Ashley (2022-10-26). "2 women arrested in Canada after coming home from Syrian camp for ISIS fighters' families". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . Archived from the original on 2023-04-07. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  12. ↑ Ian Austen (2019-02-22). "They Left Canada for ISIS. Should They Be Allowed Home?". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2019-02-23. Retrieved 2019-02-24. She then got to the camp and she started hearing stories of Canadians who has been in limbo for a long time. She learned that Americans are at least repatriating their citizens even though most of them are being repatriated directly to jail. So I think she had a change of heart and decided to identify through her other nationality in the hope that she can get out of there.
  13. 1 2 Anne Speckhard; Molly Ellenberg (2020-04-15). "Is Internet Recruitment Enough to Seduce a Vulnerable Individual into Terrorism?". Homeland Security Today . Retrieved 2020-05-23. Kimberly, like many of the others, had push factors as well as the online seduction. One of her rapists was put on trial and it was featured in the news, causing her massive post-traumatic flashbacks and suicidal feelings. Instead of committing suicide she decided to believe her online ISIS husband when he told her, 'Come where you are loved. Your children don't even see you. You have skills. You shouldn't be alone.' She now states that it wasn't just ISIS propaganda that pulled individuals into the group, but real online intimacies that made them abandon them homes and travel across continents. 'It was not propaganda that worked on us. Many of us didn't even see the videos.'
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.