B.C. Woman Who Joined ISIS Calls Her Choice a ‘Terrible Mistake’ in Letter Before Sentencing

Kimberly Polman ISIS terrorism case, Digi Mart USA News (Vancouver, British Columbia): Kimberly Polman, a British Columbia woman who pleaded guilty last month to leaving Canada to participate in the activities of a terrorist group, has described her decision to join the Islamic State as a “terrible mistake.” The details come from a statement of facts in her case, which was obtained by The Canadian Press. She has not yet been sentenced.

In 2015, Polman was unemployed and living in low-income housing in British Columbia when she moved toward Syria to join her husband, an ISIS fighter. According to the statement of facts, she had converted to Islam in 2003, later researched Islamic extremist ideology, and in 2014 entered into a marriage with a Kenyan man of Somali descent named Suhayb Muhammad Adan.

By July 2015 she had planned to leave Canada for Syria, and she booked return flights to Vienna, Austria, that she never used.

The document says she was aware that the Islamic State was a terrorist entity and that Syria was an active war zone. She travelled through Turkey, where she was smuggled into Syria by the group, and by August 2015 she was in Islamic State-controlled territory.

Adan divorced her in January 2016. She later married another ISIS member, and the couple moved between towns as the group lost territory.

Polman was captured by coalition forces on January 27, 2019, near Baghouz, the last ISIS stronghold in Syria, and spent almost four years in Syrian detention camps. In a handwritten letter dated April 3, 2019, addressed “Dear Canadians,” she wrote that she regretted her choice and asked to return to Canada, saying she had spoken out against ISIS.

The statement of facts does not explain how authorities obtained the letter.

Global Affairs Canada agreed to repatriate Polman in October 2022, and she was arrested upon arriving in Montreal. Her trial had been scheduled for November 9, but after she pleaded guilty in October, those dates were vacated.

A spokeswoman for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada said Friday that a sentencing date had not yet been set, though Polman is expected to appear in court next week.