Shakil, originally from Birmingham, England, flew to Turkey and then traveled to Syria with her young child, but fled Raqqa and returned to Britain after 3 months.
In February of last year, Shakil was arrested at Heathrow Airport and her son was taken into state custody. She claimed that she was not encouraging acts of terror, but simply wanted to “live under strict Islamic law.”
She told the jurors at her trial that she had made a “mistake,” but prosecutors pointed to photos on her phone that showed her posing with a firearm and her son wearing a hat with a Daesh logo.
"That it was part of your faith to kill the murtadeen (apostates) and… you wanted to die a martyr,” a message Shakil sent home read.
Shakil is one of a number of young female British citizens who have left their country to join Daesh. Officials report that 56 girls and women travelled to Syria in support or to join and fight last year.
"You were well aware that the future which you had subjected your son to was very likely to be indoctrination and thereafter life as a terrorist fighter," the judge said during sentencing.
