Tomasa Pérez Molleja (1976–2019) was a Spanish woman who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2014, taking her children with her. In 2022, her death was confirmed; she had died in Baghuz, where ISIL had their territorial last stand, in 2019.[1] Three of her six Spanish-born children were also killed in Syria.[2]
Tomasa Pérez Molleja | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1976 Malaga, Spain |
| Died | 2019 (aged 42–43) Baghuz, Syria |
| Occupation | stay-at-home mother |
| Known for | The last Spanish woman to join ISIL |
| Spouse | Abdelah Ahram (1993-2019) |
| Children | 6 (3 deceased) |
Life before ISIL
editTomasa Pérez Molleja was born in Malaga to a Catholic family. She was raised in Córdoba and got excellent grades in school. At 16 or 17 years of age, she met Abdelah Ahram, a Moroccan a year older than herself.[2][3] She was in her third year of high school and dropped out soon after meeting him, months before she would have taken university entrance exams.[3][4] She converted to Islam, and shortly afterwards she and Ahram married, which gave him Spanish citizenship. She had their first child at age 19, in 1995, and another in 1996. She and Ahram would have six children altogether.[3]
Her mother stated she would accompany Pérez to medical checkups during Pérez's first two pregnancies, and also supported her when she had a miscarriage. But Pérez stopped contacting her parents after the birth of her first two children. They never heard from her again.[3]
After their second child was born, the family moved to Alcolea. Later, they moved to Barcelona. The family's neighbors in the early 2000s said Pérez wore a hijab, and that the family did not socialize, although the children did attend school.[4][5] Ahram worked nights, and Pérez was a stay-at-home mother.[6] In 2003, the family moved to Sweden, but they were denied a residency permit, so moved to Morocco.[3]
Authorities believe Pérez was radicalized by her husband.[1] In 2006, Ahram was arrested with his two brothers for belonging to a terrorist group in Morocco. He was released in 2008, and he and his family went to Ceuta. In 2009, when Ahram went back to Morocco, he was convicted of another terrorism charge; court documents indicate he "encouraged suicide operations and the execution of hostages held by Al-Qaeda". He was sentenced to ten years in prison.[3]
ISIL
editIn 2014, from prison, Ahram urged her to travel to Syria to join the ISIL caliphate. Ahram's two brothers were already there.[1] Pérez sent her oldest sons, Muhammad Yasin Ahram Pérez and Musa Nosair Ahram Pérez, to Syria ahead of her, then followed with their younger siblings. Pérez and the younger children arrived on December 4, 2014.[2] She was the last confirmed woman to leave Spain to join the Syrian jihad.[3]
Pérez published a letter online defending her decision to go to Syria, stating she had cut up and burned her and her children’s Spanish passports: “My children are being raised according to the teachings of the Prophet and the Quran. Don't feel sorry for them; when your sons die of overdoses and your daughters are raped after snorting cocaine, they are the ones who truly deserve pity."[7]
In Syria, Yasin took the nom de guerre Abu Lais Al Qurdubi.[8] He was wounded in the summer of 2016, required two surgeries and was in a wheelchair, then on crutches.[9] He appeared on an ISIL propaganda video, speaking in Spanish and saying, "Allah willing, Al Andalus will become once again what it was, part of the caliphate."[1][4]
The Pérez children did not attend school in Syria. Instead, their mother taught them math and Arabic at home. Pérez reportedly recruited other women to ISIL.[9]
Her son Alejandro Ahram Pérez, who was eight years old when he arrived in the ISIL territory, said his brother Musa was killed in 2016 while fighting Bashar al-Assad's troops in the Aleppo area. Yasin, he said, died in Baghuz at the age of 24, and their mother also died in Baghuz after being severely injured in a bombing.[2] Alejandro’s sister was shot and killed when Pérez’s surviving four children tried to escape Baghuz after burying their mother. Alejandro and his two younger brothers were taken to the Al-Hawl refugee camp. When interviewed by El País in 2025, he said he wanted to return to Spain to live with his grandparents.[2] He was later sent to the Houri Juvenile Deradicalization Center.[10]
See also
editReferences
edit- 1 2 3 4 Escrivá, Ángeles (2022-11-28). "La difunta Tomasa y la tragedia de toda la prole que se llevó al 'Califato'". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-01-08.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Sancha, Natalia (2025-03-14). "Siete españoles en el limbo de los 50.000 yihadistas y familiares custodiados por las fuerzas kurdas en Siria". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-01-08.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mucha, Martín; Caravaca, Toñi (2014-12-21). "Y Tomasa se fue a la guerra (con sus seis hijos)". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-01-08.
- 1 2 3 Martín-Arroyo, Javier (2017-08-25). "El Cordobés, the Spanish face of Islamic State". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
- ↑ Méndez, Rafael (2017-08-25). "El yihadista Yassin, hijo de la Tomasa: de no salir a jugar a la calle a amenazar a España". elconfidencial.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-01-08.
- ↑ Mucha, Martín; Alba, Alfonso (2017-08-25). "El abuelo español del yihadista 'el Cordobés': "No nos podemos creer en qué se ha convertido nuestro nieto"". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-01-08.
- ↑ Ruiz Coll, M.A. (2017-08-24). "Tomasa Pérez Mollejas, la madre del yihadista español: "Vuestros hijos mueren de sobredosis y vuestras hijas son violadas"". okdiario.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-01-08.
- ↑ "Abu Lais "el Cordobés", el joven yihadista andaluz que amenaza en video a España en nombre del autodenominado Estado Islámico". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-01-08.
- 1 2 Escritá, Ángeles (2018-02-18). "Las semillas del mal de Tomasa... y el destino final de los 240 españoles que se incorporaron al IS". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-01-08.
- ↑ Sancha, Natalia (2026-02-19). "Un yihadista español, entre los 5.704 reos trasladados por Estados Unidos de Siria a Irak". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-05-21.