Islamic State interviews Paris supermarket killer's wife in magazine

The Islamic State (IS) group has featured Hayat Boumeddiene, wife of Amedy Coulibaly who killed five people in a Parisian kosher grocery store last month, in the latest issue of their online magazine.

It is not possible to verify the authenticity of the interview in which she discusses her partner's excitement to join IS and her advice to other Muslim women. 

If real, it would confirm suspicions that “France’s Most Wanted Woman”, previously thought to have crossed a southern Turkish border after allegedly helping her husband in the Paris shooting, managed to reach Syria.

In the apparent interview, featured in issue seven of the IS online magazine Dabiq, Boumeddiene is called "Umm Basir al-Muhajirah". In Arabic , muhajirah refers to a person who relocates to a place for a religious purpose.

“Because of his loyalty to the Khilāfah, the mujāhid Abū Basīr al-Ifrīqī (Amedy Coulibaly –rahimahullāh) arranged to send his wife Umm Basīr al-Muhājirah to its lands prior to his shahādah in the blessed operations of Paris,” reads the introduction.

“After her safe arrival, Dābiq had the opportunity to present some questions to the sister and she answered with beneficial responses. May Allah protect all the wives of the shuhadā’ and mujāhidīn and keep them firm upon the truth until they meet their Lord (‘azza wa jall).”

Dabiq quotes the 26-year old French citizen praising the group and her standard of living in Syria.

“Living in a land where the law of Allah (‘azza wa jall) is implemented is something great,” she is quoted as saying. “I feel at ease now that I have carried out this obligation.”

She claimed, according to Dabiq, that Coulibaly was overjoyed by the announcement of the establishment of “Khilafah” referring to IS’s self-declared appointment as a new Muslim caliphate, and that he was desperate to join IS.

“His eyes shined every time he would watch the videos of the Islamic State,” she said. “He would say, ‘Don’t show me this,’ because when he would watch the videos, it would make him want to perform hijrah [travel to land where you can practice religion freely] immediately and that would have conflicted with his intent to carry out the operations in France.”

The alleged interview is short and much of it is made up of Boumeddiene distributing “advice” for other Muslim women.

“My sisters, be bases of support and safety for your husbands, brothers, fathers, and sons. Be advisors to them,” she is quoted as saying. “They should find comfort and peace with you. Do not make things difficult for them. Facilitate all matters for them.”

Her 32-year old common law husband Coulibaly was killed by police in Paris, following the shootings at the kosher supermarket on 9 January.

The supermarket killing occurred shortly after a shooting at the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 17 people were killed, though magazine killers were alleged to have been train by IS rivals al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)

Also featured in the latest Dabiq issue is a justification for the execution of Jordanian pilot Muaz Kasasbeh who was apparently burned to death in January, the video of which provoked outrage from Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

“In burning the crusader pilot alive and burying him under a pile of debris, the Islamic State carried out a just form of retaliation for his involvement in the crusader bombing campaign which continues to result in the killing of countless Muslims who, as a result of these airstrikes, are burned alive and buried under mountains of debris,” it reads, additionally citing a variety of scholars to justify the killing.

They also condemn Jordan’s executions of Sajida al-Rishawi and Zyad al-Karbuli, two al-Qaeda members who were hanged by Jordan.

In the magazine, IS said it sincerely tried to negotiate for their release, a claim that will likely be hard for many to believe as it is thought that Kasasbeh was killed in early January while the negotiations between Jordan and IS continued until the first week of February.

“The Islamic State had done everything it could to secure the release of both Sājidah and Ziyād, but Allah decreed that they would return to Him as shuhadā’, an incomparable honour which they had both desired, eagerly pursued, and supplicated their Lord for,” they wrote.

“We consider them so, and Allah is their judge.”

Other features include a partially reprinting of an article by Patrick Cockburn, correspondant for the Independent who just released a book on IS called Rise of the Islamic State.

The introduction, titled “In The Words Of The Enemy,” includes a full-page picture of Cockburn – referred to as “The Kafir Patrick Cockburn” and features a mixture of praise and criticism of a recent article by Cockburn:

“[Cockburn] contrasts the successes of the Islamic State with the overall failure of the crusaders in their war against the Khilāfah. Although [his] article contains exaggerations of the “abilities” and “advances” attributed to the murtaddīn from amongst the Safawī [Shiite] forces, the PKK, and the peshmerga, the author makes a number of sensible points.”

IS has for years run a highly professional and slick media campaign involving videos, magazines, and social media activism.

Dabiq, which frequently runs at more than 80 pages, is produced in English seemingly with an aim to attracting followers in Europe.