The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
36°F
Current Conditions
Overcast clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

Woman who joined Islamic State starts fight to return to US

This undated image provided by attorney Hassan Shibly shows Hoda Muthana, an Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State after becoming radicalized online. Muthana realized she was wrong and now wants to return to the United States, Shibly, a lawyer for her family said Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. (AP)
Associated Press
This undated image provided by attorney Hassan Shibly shows Hoda Muthana, an Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State after becoming radicalized online. Muthana realized she was wrong and now wants to return to the United States, Shibly, a lawyer for her family said Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. (AP)

WASHINGTON – An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State has lost the first round in her legal fight to return to the U.S. with her toddler son.

A federal judge in Washington denied a request to consider Hoda Muthana’s case on an emergency basis. That means she won’t be able to immediately leave a refugee camp in Syria and fight her citizenship claim inside the U.S.

But Judge Reggie Walton did say the 24-year-old woman’s lawyer made a “valid argument” for her right to citizenship during a hearing Monday.

The U.S. says Muthana is not a citizen because her father was a Yemeni diplomat at the time of her birth in New Jersey. Her lawyers argue he was no longer a diplomat at the time. A ruling could come this summer.