Halla Diyab is an award winning screen-writer, producer, broadcaster and published author. She holds a Ph.D. in English and American Studies from the University of Leicester, UK. She carried out research in New Orleans, USA while working on her thesis “The Examination of Marginality and Minorities in the Drama and Film of Tennessee Williams.” She holds an PGDip in post-colonial and world literature, and an MA in Gender and Women Studies from the University of Warwick, UK. She has written a number of scripts for TV dramas countering Islamic extremism and international terrorism, which were aired across the Middle East and Europe, resulting in her being awarded the Best Syrian Drama Script Award 2010 and the Artists Achievement Award 2011. As a highly successful drama writer, she was dubbed “one of the most influential women in Syria” in 2011. She also produces documentary films on Islam and British Muslims for UK and international channels. She is also the Founder & Director of Liberty Media Productions which focuses on cross-cultural issues between Britain and the Middle East. She is also a columnist at al-Arabiya English, writing on Syria, Islam and Middle East political affairs.
She is a regular commentator in the British and international media and has recently appeared on Channel 4 News, BBC Newsnight, BBC This Week, CNN, Sky News, Channel 5 News, ITV Central, al-Jazeera English and BBC Radio 4, to name a few. She is a public speaker who spoke at the House of Commons, the Spectator Debate, Uniting for Peace and London’s Frontline Club. She has worked in Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Syria and is an expert on the Middle East and Islamic culture.
The latest issue of al-Qaeda’s Inspire Magazine prominently featured a call for ‘lone wolf’ style attacks on Americans. This is the first time that al-Qaeda made a call for lone...
With Islamic State (IS) increasingly turning to social media to spread its propaganda amid its territorial defeat, the group has utilized apps like Tik Tok, Telegram, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and...
On June 24, the U.S. State Department announced that it was raising its reward for information on Islamic State’s mysterious leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qureshi, to $10 million (Rewards for...
Islamic State (IS) has consistently put presenting a polished image of jihadists at the forefront of their online social media propaganda campaign. However, that actions of IS jihadists out in...
Background The editor and occasional contributor to the al-Qaeda affiliated magazine The Daughter of Islam, Umm Umara al-Muhajirah, is carving out a new, female role within the terrorist movement through...
Shamima Begum has been the talking point of the international media and has dominated the headlines after her British citizenship was stripped, the most public example of an Islamic-State (IS)-bride-turned-stateless-jihadist....
With the dream of a Caliphate coming to an ignominious end, and Islamic State (IS) insurgents either being killed or fleeing from Syria and Iraq, female jihadists have been subjected...
As an increasing number of Islamic State (IS) female militants have been captured and sentenced to death after the collapse of the so-called “caliphate,” gender roles within the group have...
Islamic State’s (IS) foreign fighters are a key part of its propaganda campaign in the West. The group thrives on attracting militants whose personal history makes them seem “too normal”...
Sally-Anne Frances Jones (a.k.a. Sakinah Hussein; Umm Hussain al-Britani; the White Widow) is a former punk rock guitarist turned one of the most dangerous female militants in the Islamic State...
The involvement of Saudi women with jihadist militancy is rare, and there are few examples of female militants carving out a new role, one different from the kind of feminine...
With the rise of Islamic State’s (IS) self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who made his first public appearance in July 2014, deviated from the norms of...
After her 15-year old daughter ran away from home to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, Dr. Iman Mustafa al-Bugha, the Syrian scholar and renowned university professor, seized on...
Halla Diyab Female militants’ roles within the Islamic State (IS) have recently evolved, breaking from their more conventional functions as recruiters and online propagandists for the jihadist cause. Increasingly, women...
Halla Diyab Introduction A world overflowing with social media provides Islamic State (IS) supporters with a golden opportunity. The Internet revolution has not only restructured extremist discourse and its accessibility,...
Halla Diyab The Islamic State’s (IS) construction of a revolutionary jihadist-love culture and its perpetuation of a narrative that stands in deep contrast to the barbaric atrocities of the group...
Halla Diyab Introduction The rising number of foreign female militants and recruiters among the ranks of the Islamic State is a direct result of the ongoing manipulation of gender norms...
Fatiha Mohamed Taher Housni al-Mejjati (a.k.a. Umm Adam), is a member of the Islamic State’s media committee and therefore one of the most powerful women in the organization (The Africa...
Finally, God granted me al-samaha [allowance to enter the caliphate land], Oh, my comrade, I’ve shook hands with arms I’ve lived [in] the caliphate and its excellencies (al-Quds al-Arabi, October...
