Focus on Daesh recruitment methods

Woman, who walked away, talks of being offered a new life with job and house

AJordanian woman who came close to joining Daesh described a sophisticated 14-month recruitment process by the extremists that she said landed her in a secret Daesh compound in Turkey with dozens of other women.

The 25-year-old was eventually persuaded by Jordanian lawmaker Mazen Dalaeen — who earlier this year failed to extract his own son from the grip of Daesh recruiters — to return to her family.

The case highlights the systematic grooming of potential Daesh recruits through daily social media exchanges and follow-up on the ground for travel arrangements — in her case an envelope stuffed with cash for a plane ticket to Turkey, handed to her by a veiled woman in her home district of Karak in central Jordan.

Exploiting frustration

The woman, jobless since earning a Bachelor of Arts in psychology in 2011, said Daesh recruiters exploited her vulnerability. “They used my frustration ... promising me a new life with a job and a house,” she said in a phone conversation with Dalaeen after her return to Jordan last month.

A recording of the call was given to The Associated Press by the lawmaker, a vocal campaigner against Daesh, which controls large areas of Jordan’s neighbours Syria and Iraq in a self-declared “caliphate.”

The woman also described her experience in a November 18 programme on Jordan University’s radio station, with her speaking by phone. Dalaeen provided further details in an interview with AP on Thursday.

The lawmaker said the case illustrates the extremists’ deep reach into Jordan, an outspoken US ally in a Western-Arab military coalition against Daesh.

“Daesh has a strong organisation,” Dalaeen said. “They can penetrate young people’s minds easily and change certain thoughts.”

Jordanian government officials have played down the extent of support for Daesh.