A growing number of women in Iraq and Syria are filing for divorce to escape the stigma of being married to Islamic State militants, according to reports by NBC News.
Now that ISIS’ stronghold in these regions has ebbed, the government says there has been “a huge increase” in the past three months of women filing for divorce in Iraq in regions such as Anbar and Nineveh where ISIS was most rampant, Deputy Justice Minister Hussein Jassem told NBC News. (RELATED: Soiled ISIS Fighters Surrendering In Droves: ‘It Really Means This Is The End)
This may be, in part, due to affiliations with ISIS militants can prevent families from returning to their communities because of the stigma attached to such relationships, according to a 2018 report released by the Human Rights Watch group based in New York.
Iraqi government forces displaced at least 235 families to holding camps in January because of their affiliations with ISIS militants. Soldiers told them they were innocent but had to move to the camp because their relatives had joined ISIS, according to the Human Rights Watch report.
Additionally, the Iraqi government has enlisted the help of the public to point out suspected ISIS supporters and report them, and wives of fighters could face prosecution, Jassem told NBC.
“Being the wife of a terrorist is not honoring me or my family and it is not going to honor my kids,” Umaima, a 41-year-old wife of an ISIS fighter seeking divorce, told NBC.
Although conservative Muslim communities in Iraq stigmatize divorce, it is not against the law nor is it considered a sin in the Islamic religion. If wives claim their husband mistreated them or were convicted of crimes, they are legally eligible to petition the courts for a divorce. It is a month-long proceeding that doesn’t require a lawyer and is typically inexpensive, NBC reported. It also absolves women of their former connection to ISIS fighters.
“I am afraid of being accused that I support terrorism, and this is one of the reasons that drove me to ask for divorce,” Fatima, the wife of an ISIS militant, said to NBC.
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