The Islamic State terror group has announced a $1 million reward for those who kill a woman who fought for the Kurdish peshmerga in Iraq and the YPG militia in Syria.
Joanna Palani, a 23-year-old Kurdish-Danish woman, dropped out of university in 2014 and travelled to Middle East to fight the extremist group. The terror group promised the monetary reward through its social media channels in different languages.
Ironically, Palani is currently facing trial in Denmark for allegedly violating a 12-month travel ban imposed on her in 2015. She was taken to custody after she admitted travelling to Qatar in June this year. She is currently held in Denmark’s largest prison, Vestre Fængsel in Copenhagen. If found guilty, she faces up to two years in prison.
The next hearing of her case begins on Tuesday. Palani is the first foreign fighter to be jailed under Denmark's new passport laws, which aim to stem the flow of IS sympathisers to the Middle East. Denmark ranks second in Europe in terms of number of jihadi fighters joining IS per head of population behind Belgium.
The confiscation of her passport had sparked off protests in the country, with her lawyer, Erbil Kaya, labelling her as a person who has been fighting on the same side as the international coalition.
“It’s hypocritical to punish her. Why don’t we punish the people who fight for Isis instead of people who are fighting on the same side as Denmark?,” Kaya had asked, alleging that many of those who returned after joining the terror group were roaming free in the country.
Palani was born in an Iraqi refugee camp in 1993 during the first Gulf War. Her family moved to Denmark when she was three.
