Judge Strikes Down Request to Expedite Case of Hoda Muthana, Who Married 3 ISIS Fighters

Published: 3/4/2019, 4:47:51 PM EST

Judge Strikes Down Request to Expedite Case of Hoda Muthana, Who Married 3 ISIS Fighters — Hoda Muthana, an Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State after becoming radicalized online. (Hoda Muthana/Attorney Hassan Shibly via AP)

The lawsuit regarding Hoda Muthana, who lived in Alabama before traveling to Syria to join the ISIS terrorist group, will not be fast-tracked, a federal judge ruled on March 4.

Muthana does not deserve special treatment, Judge Reggie Walton said.

Muthana's attorney argued that Muthana, 24, who wants to return to the United States with her 18-month-old son, is in a "precarious position" in a refugee camp in Syria after ISIS was decimated there by the United States and American allies.

She needs to return as soon as possible to avoid "dangerous conditions," the attorney claimed, adding that it was possible Muthana could be captured or killed by the radical Islamist terror group.

Judge Walton disagreed and said there was no evidence that Muthana would face "irreparable harm" if her case wasn't fast-tracked, reported USA Today.

Hoda Muthana, now 24, in a 2012 yearbook picture. (Hoover High School) — Hoda Muthana, now 24, in a 2012 yearbook picture. Hoover High School

The ruling was made regarding the lawsuit filed by Ahmed Ali Muthana, a former diplomat at the United Nations who is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. He said in the suit that his daughter is an American citizen, in contradiction with the administration of President Donald Trump, which said it discovered Hoda Muthana was not a U.S. citizen because her father was a diplomat when she was born.

Muthana fled the United States in 2014 when she was a college student at the University of Birmingham. She married three ISIS fighters and at least two of them died in battle.

She now claims that she made a mistake and that she should be allowed to re-enter the United States.

Among her statements issued while she was in the Middle East was an exhortation for Muslims in the United States to carry out terror attacks.

"Go on drive-bys and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriot, Memorial etc Day parade," she said in one infamous post published on Twitter in 2015. Another post featured a picture of four passports with the caption: “Bonfire soon, no need for these anymore,” she wrote.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials have spoken strongly about Muthana, with Pompeo telling reporters on March 4: "She's a terrorist."

"This is a woman who went online and tried to kill young men and women of the United States of America. She advocated for jihad, for people to drive vans across streets here in the United States and kill Americans. She’s not a U.S. citizen. She has no claim of U.S. citizenship. In fact, she’s a terrorist, and we shouldn’t bring back foreign terrorists to the United States of America. It’s not the right thing to do," he said.

"President Trump is determined that she will not come back. And we don’t need that kind of risk, and we don’t need people like her who threatened the lives of Americans and Iowans coming back to the United States who aren’t citizens."

Trump took to Twitter on Feb. 20 to announce that he instructed Pompeo not to let Muthana back into the United States.

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) is among those advocating for Muthana to return and face a trial.

"No one is going to welcome this person back to the United States—that’s just a mischaracterization," he said on Sunday morning on CBS.

“I do think we ought to consider bringing her back to face justice," Jones added. "We do it all the time with terrorists, with other people that commit crimes against the United States. I think it sends kind of a bad message if we give someone a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card just because they go to the Middle East.”

Others, though agree with the Trump administration, including John Lyda, a member of the City Council in Muthana's former city, Hoover.

"She’s certainly not welcome back in the @CityofHoover as far as I’m concerned," he said. "The fact that she wants to come back to America and face justice here really tells us all we need to know. Let her remain where she is."