Rana Sweis

Sisters’ journey into the Syrian jihad

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It was October 2013. ISIS had splintered off from al-Qaeda earlier that year.

The militant group grows stronger and attracts recruits from all over the world, many from Western Europe.

Ayan and her younger sister Leila are Somali-Norwegian teenagers living in an affluent neighborhood outside of Oslo. They leave their adopted homeland to travel to Syria and marry ISIS fighters.

Author Asne Seierstad shares the family's story in her latest book, "Two Sisters: A Father, His Daughters and Their Journey into the Syrian Jihad."

At first, says Seierstad, Ayan and Leila's mother is worried that the girls are becoming "too Norwegian" and sends them to classes with a charismatic Quran teacher. And that's when the parents notice a change.

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Rana Sweis Articles

Arrest of Egyptian satirist

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Twenty Egyptian policemen in plainclothes broke into the home of a young satirist on Sunday morning in the suburbs of Cairo. Authorities whisked away vlogger Shadi Abu Zeid and confiscated his computers, cash and electronics. But he was neither taken to a local police department nor charged in a civilian court. His whereabouts remained unknown for more than a day, until Monday evening, when his sister posted online that he had appeared at a state security prosecutor’s hearing in Cairo.

Egyptian authorities have yet to disclose charges facing Abu Zeid, a comic known for his YouTube channel. Experts say he is likely to be tried under the stringent 2015 counter-terrorism law that has indiscriminately been deployed against perceived dissenters. The Egyptian Embassy — which distributed two press releases on Monday afternoon about monetary policy — did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“This is not an exceptional case, and it’s not about satire,” said Nancy Okail, executive director of the Washington-based Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. One might argue that the primary difference between Abu Zeid and the thousands of others currently detained in Egyptian custody is that we know the young comedian’s name.

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