when she lived in Syria was handed the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after her own children denounced her in court Tuesday.
The daughter, Leyla Ekren, said “lust for control and power” drove her mother to drag the family halfway across the world to find a terrorist group that would allow Fluke-Ekren to flourish, during a victim impact statement she gave at the hearing. Parekh said Fluke-Ekren’s immediate family was unanimous in its desire to see her punished to the maximum extent possible, a circumstance the veteran prosecutor described as extremely rare.
She denied the abuse allegations, and tried to accuse her oldest son of manipulating her daughter into making them. “She was a few weeks away from 14,” Fluke-Ekren responded in protest, later saying, “It was her decision. I never forced her.”