A US-born woman who says she regrets joining ISIS has appealed again to come home from the refugee camp where she lives with her young son in Syria because life is tough there.
The government is refusing to let Hoda Muthana, 25, return to the US, arguing that she is not an American citizen.
In an interview with NBC News published Saturday, Muthana said she 'regrets every single thing' done by ISIS, which she joined in 2014 after embracing extremist ideology while living with her family in Alabama.
'Anyone that believes in God believes that everyone deserves a second chance, no matter how harmful their sins were,' Muthana said.
Muthana fled her home in suburban Birmingham in late 2014 and resurfaced in Syria where she used social media to advocate violence against the United States. She married three ISIS fighters, all of whom died in combat.
According to the Counter Extremism Project she took part actively in ISIS propaganda. She also urged jihadists in America to 'go on drive-bys, and spill all of their blood'.
Muthana hailed an attack in 2015 in France against the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 people dead.
She now says 'it was an ideology that really was just a phase' and refused to discuss those earlier comments in the NBC interview.
The interview was conducted in northeast Syria at the Al-Roj refugee camp, controlled by Kurdish forces, where Muthana lives with her two-year-old son Adam.
Muthana said she fears for her life because she could be targeted by people at the camp who have not renounced ISIS.
'I did not support the beheadings from (IS) from day one, until now I do not support any of their crimes and suicide attacks,' Muthana said.
The US government has repatriated several American women linked to the group, along with their children, but not Muthana.
Washington argues she is not a US citizen even though she was born in the US because she is the daughter of a diplomat serving for the Yemeni government at the time.
The children of US-based foreign diplomats do not enjoy citizenship by birthright.
Muthana has filed suit to try to return to the US. She had traveled to Syria on a US passport.
'I am a citizen and I have papers to prove it. I am as American as a blond-haired blue-eyed girl and I would like to stay in my country and do American things,' Muthana told NBC.
President Donald Trump tweeted on February 20 that she would be refused entry into the U.S.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called her a terrorist.
She said she is willing to face the US justice system if she is allowed to return.
She said she wants to provide a better life for her son.
'I'm scared of my son being here.
'We can't afford bottled water, so we have to drink the tank water and... it causes stomach aches.
'I want my son to be around my family, I want to go to school, I want to have a job and I want to have my own car.'
Before she fled, she was part of a network of young Muslims who used Twitter to soak up extremist ideas. She said they were brainwashed and interpreted what they were told by predatory ISIS members.
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