Ex-wife of ISIS fighter convicted in death of James Foley and other hostages says she was 'oblivious'

This story is a co-production between CBC and BBC and is part of Bloodlines, a podcast series co-produced by CBC Podcasts and BBC Sounds. The first episode will be available Oct. 23. Subscribe to the series here.

A Canadian woman whose marriage to a notorious ISIS fighter is being made public for the first time says she was "oblivious to what was going on" when she lived with him in Syria.

In an interview with CBC and U.K. public broadcaster BBC in Toronto last week, Dure Ahmed, 33, said she was unaware of the atrocities being committed by her then-husband El Shafee Elsheikh, who was part of a cell within ISIS linked to the abduction, torture and beheading of Western hostages.

"It's like I was oblivious to what was going on," she said.

She said she accepts that her time with Elsheikh was part of her life, "whether I like it or not."

Ahmed, who was born in Canada to Ethiopian parents, travelled from Canada to join the British-born Elsheikh in Syria in 2014. She says she wasn't radicalized but was just "a dumb girl in love."

After the defeat of ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, in Syria in 2019, she ended up in a Kurdish-controlled camp in northern Syria for the wives and children of suspected ISIS militants. In April of this year, Ahmed and her two sons were among a group of women and children repatriated to Canada.

When she returned to Canada, Ahmed was immediately arrested on a "terrorism peace bond" and later granted bail with conditions. 

On Monday, the details of her case — including whom she was married to — were made public for the first time in a Brampton, Ont., courtroom.

The Crown lawyer argued Ahmed had been "steeped" in ISIS ideology and it would have been "likely" she knew of her husband's role with the group before leaving Canada. Dure's lawyer did not contest the conditions suggested for her terrorism peace bond.  

The Crown and Ahmed's legal team put forward a joint proposal with conditions that would include her being monitored by GPS and subjected to a curfew between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. ET. The judge said he would deliver his ruling on Oct. 19.

Ahmed said she expects a backlash for speaking publicly but wants to highlight the plight of the women and children of suspected ISIS fighters still stuck in Syrian camps. 

"I'm not looking for sympathy or pity," she said.

Elsheikh and the others in his ISIS cell were nicknamed "the Beatles" by their captives because of their British accents. The men were responsible for the deaths of several hostages — most of whom were beheaded — and filmed the killings and posted the videos on social media in 2014 and 2015.