Professor Bennoune Comments for NBC.com on ISIS Ransom Demands
Professor Karima Bennoune commented for a news report on NBC.com regarding demands by the terrorist group known as ISIS for the release of a failed female suicide bomber.
ISIS initially asked for a cash ransom in exchange for the release of hostages, but is now demanding the release of Sajida al-Rishawi. The change is a reflection of al-Rishawi's family ties to leaders in al Qaeda and ISIS, but also serves other purposes, Bennoune said. It is "likely that ISIS has sought to switch its ransom demands for propaganda purposes, to position itself - wrongly - as a defender of Muslim women," said Bennoune.
Karima Bennoune is an author, lecturer, teacher, and international law scholar as well as the first Arab-American to be honored with the Derrick A. Bell Award from the Section on Minority Groups of the Association of American Law Schools. She recently was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for her book Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight against Muslim Fundamentalism, now available in paperback from W.W. Norton & Company.