Tampa attorney: ISIS bride should be 'treated like any U.S. citizen'

TAMPA, Fla. (FOX 13) - In 2014,19-year-old Hoda Muthana lied to her family and left her home in Alabama for Syria to join ISIS. On Twitter, she called for the spilling of American blood.

After four years of forced marriages, witnessing killings, the birth of her 17-month-old, and with ISIS losing its grip on the region, she wants to return to the United States.   

“When I came here and I saw everything with my own eyes. I knew I made a huge mistake,” Muthana told The Guardian. 

Hassan Shibly, her family’s attorney -- who is also the executive director of the Tampa-based Council on American Islamic Relations -- says she should return to the United States to stand trial.  

“ISIS is the scum of the earth,” Shibly said. “What her family wants is her to be treated like any U.S. citizen who is accused of breaking the law. We have due process.”

When asked about jail time, Muthana told ABC News she would be open to “therapy lessons,” saying, “Jail time, I don’t know if that has an effect on people.”

Shibley says birth records show she was born in New Jersey. Her father is a foreign diplomat. 

President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo say she’s never been a U.S. citizen and won’t be returning.

“This is a woman who has inflicted enormous risk on American soldiers and American citizens. She’s a terrorist,” Pompeo told FOX Business Thursday morning. 

The family attorney says she was brainwashed as a teen into joining the terror network and that Muthana escaped under gunfire and turned herself into U.S. allies in northern Syria.