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'ISIS WANT TO KILL ME'

Danish woman branded a ‘terrorist’ by her own country after becoming a sniper to fight ISIS reveals jihadis want to make her a sex slave

Joanna Palani, 23, fought in Iraq and Syria 'so that everyone in Europe could be safe'

A DANISH student who travelled to fight ISIS has told of being labelled a terrorist and living with the threat of assassination or kidnap by jihadi thugs.

Sniper Joanna Palani, 23, fought alongside Kurdish peshmerga troops in Iraq and the anti-ISIS YPG militia in Syria after dropping out of college.

 Joanna Palani, 23, dropped out of college to fight ISIS
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Joanna Palani, 23, dropped out of college to fight ISISCredit: facebook
 Danish student Joanna says she feels hounded by authorities and is at risk of being assassinated or kidnapped by ISIS thugs
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Danish student Joanna says she feels hounded by authorities and is at risk of being assassinated or kidnapped by ISIS thugsCredit: facebook
 Joanna said she has put her life at risk to defend her freedom
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Joanna said she has put her life at risk to defend her freedomCredit: facebook

But now back home she has been forced into hiding and could face jail after defying a ban on travelling to the war-torn region.

Speaking to the , Joanna said: "I was willing to give up my life and my freedom to stop ISIS advancing, so that everyone in Europe can be safe. This was my choice.

"But I am seen as a terrorist by my own country."

In December The Sun reported how Joanna was briefly jailed after admitting breaching an order banning her from travelling back to so-called Islamic State.

She even had her passport confiscated after going against the travel ban imposed on her in September 2015.

Last June she broke Denmark's strict anti-terror laws to return to Syria, using her crack-shot skills to take out terrorists on a five-month tour of duty.

But now she says she feels hounded by authorities — and ISIS operatives who have put a $1m "dead or alive" bounty on her head.

 Joanna was a crack-shot sniper in Syria and Iraq
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Joanna was a crack-shot sniper in Syria and IraqCredit: facebook
 Joanna says that she feels like she has been branded a terrorist, but it was worth fighting against ISIS
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Joanna says that she feels like she has been branded a terrorist, but it was worth fighting against ISISCredit: facebook

Joanna said: "ISIS want to kill me, and capture me to convert me into a radical Islamist or turn me into a sex slave."

But she added: "My worries about being captured and killed are not as great as my love of freedom.

"I will keep trying to show them that I am a liberated and independent woman. This is how I will defeat them."

The daughter of Iranian Kurds, the courageous soldier was born in an Iraqi refugee camp in 1993 before her family moved to Denmark when she was three.

In an interview with the last year, Joanna said she travelled “to fight for women’s rights, for democracy – for the European values I learned as a Danish girl”.

An in another interview with , the sniper said that “ISIS fighters are very easy to kill”.

Her defiant comments come after it was revealed the brave Brit chef who died taking on ISIS turned his gun on himself rather than letting himself be captured by warped jihadists.

Ryan Lock, 20, was hailed as a hero by his Kurdish comrades after falling on the battlefield near Raqqa in Syria on December 21.

Dad Jon said he was “a caring and loving boy who would do anything to help anyone”.



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