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Tania Zair, of Bangladeshi descent, was married to a leader of the militant group Islamic State (IS). In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, she recounted her ordeal and how she returned to normal life.
Tania Jaya was born in 1983 in North London to a Bangladeshi family. “I wanted to be English from a young age, but my family wanted me to be a good Muslim woman,” she said. They wanted me not to follow Western culture. ‘
Tania told The Guardian: “When someone loses trust in their parents, their authority, their discipline, it seems incredible.”
At the age of 18, Tania moved to East London with her family. Befriends new people in new places.
“They were very conservative,” Tania said. They insulted me for my western attitude. I was so desperate that I was desperate to become a new person. One of my cousins had a great influence on me at that time. I study on the university. He taught me about the caliphate. I read a lot of Saudi Islamic fatwas online. I thought my life purpose was to find the truth. ‘
In 2003, Tania joined the anti-Iraq war movement in London. At that time, some people gave him a piece of paper with the name of a Muslim dating website.
Tania said: ‘It was on that website that I met John Georges. John is an American citizen who has converted to Islam. He grew up in a middle class family. John was multilingual. It seemed very smart to me. I was looking for someone like my life partner. ‘
Tania married him on John’s first visit to London. ‘I knew that was the only way to escape my house. In a very short time we moved to the United States. Our first child was born.
Tania said that within days of giving birth to her first child, radical behavior began to appear among people. When I stop wearing the niqab, I move freely, John does the exact opposite. ‘
John was sentenced in 2006 to three years in prison for hacking into the website of a pro-Israel lobby.
Tania said: ‘I was still financially dependent on my husband. I didn’t realize I was in an abusive relationship. ‘
When John got out of jail, the couple, along with their three children, moved to Egypt for a time and then to Istanbul.
“John then told me to go to Syria, but I didn’t want to go to a war-torn country with my children,” he said. I was adamant about this. ‘
“We couldn’t afford to stay in Istanbul. While in the United States, John told me and his family that we would stay in Turkey. But instead we went directly to the Syrian border.
“Even when we took the bus in the middle of the night, I didn’t understand what was going on,” Tania told The Guardian. So I was five months pregnant. I was relieved to find that my children and I were able to sleep on the bus. After dawn we reached a checkpoint in Syria. John then threatened me not to object.
Finding a phone there, Tania called her father-in-law’s house.
Tania said: ‘I called his mother to tell her that John had lied to us. I cried and told my mother to get in touch with the FBI agents. ‘
Members of the US intelligence service have been searching for John for years. The FBI told Tania that she would not be accused of joining any extremist group if she voluntarily returned to the United States.
“There was no water from our taps in Syria,” Tania said. Because they shot at the water tank on the house. My children and I suffered from malnutrition. I was always afraid of losing my son. ‘
John was mad at me for reporting to the FBI. I was mad at him for cheating on his family. ‘ Tania refused to cover her face in anger.
This puts John in a rather embarrassing situation. Tania said: ‘Either her friends keep pressuring her to leave me or to control her. Finally, John has mercy. He arranged for us to return.
Tania waited the next three weeks due to roadblocks and fighting.
We walked a few kilometers, crossed a barbed wire hole and got into the truck before sniper bullets. The man who was supposed to take us to the bus station dropped us off in the middle. Finally, a Turk helped us.
“I’m happy to be back,” said Tania. I wanted my children to live a good life, return to a healthy world and give something to this world. ‘
John was one of the leaders in the establishment of the caliphate and the Islamic State. He was instrumental in getting many Westerners to join IS, to become its fighters.
Tania said, ‘I haven’t seen John anymore. Later I learned that he had remarried in Syria.
Tania received word of John’s death in 2019. He is believed to have been killed during an American bombing in 2016.
Tania Jaya currently works with Faith Matters, a UK anti-extremism group.
Now I live in Texas. John’s parents live very close to my house. Being around has been good for the children and for them. My current husband is respectful and responsible to me. I love my freedom.
“Education is the key to staying away from extremism,” he told The Guardian. It must present accurate data, information, and scientific explanation. That’s what changed me. I have read a lot, I have educated myself. We need to understand that to live in peace, each of us must be respectful to others and have the courage to respect people of different beliefs. “
