Italy sentences female jihadist to nine years in jail

A 29-year-old female Italian jihadist was sentenced in absentia to nine years in jail today in the country's first such conviction, according to media reports.
Maria Giulia Sergio adopted the name Fatima after converting to Islam and married an Albanian in September 2014 so she could join the so-called Islamic State militants who hold ground in Syria and Iraq.
Several days into the marriage the couple flew from Rome to Turkey and clandestinely entered Syria.
Her husband, named as Aldo Kobuzi, trained at an IS camp and the female militant learned how to handle weapons.
She also sent congratulatory messages about a jihadist attack at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in January 2015.

Kobuzi was also convicted in absentia and sentenced to 10 years in jail.

After encouragement from the female jihadist her parents and younger sister, Marianna, converted to Islam, sold their furniture and applied for passports to try and follow her.
But all three were arrested in July 2015 for "organising travel for terrorist purposes", an offence recently added to Italian law and being used for the first time.
The father received a four-year jail term from the court in Milan for trying to organise the trip to areas held by IS, having come under pressure from his daughters.
Marianna was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to five years and four months in jail.