US woman charged with aiding Islamic State militants

An Indiana woman who says her husband died fighting for the Islamic State movement in Syria is accused of providing support to the group.

Federal prosecutors say 32-year-old Samantha Elhassani, of Elkhart, was charged Wednesday with conspiring to provide material support to IS and aiding and abetting individuals in providing material support.

She is accused of providing tactical gear and funds to two Islamic State fighters.

Elhassani’s attorney, Thomas Durkin, called the charges “wrong-headed and cruel” and said she’s “a victim of her jihadist husband (who) should be receiving treatment rather than incarceration.”

Elhassani told PBS’ “Frontline” and the BBC in April that her Moroccan husband tricked her in 2015 into traveling with their four children to Syria, where he died fighting for the Islamic State.