Ms Hutchinson did not become a Muslim and go to Afghanistan because she wanted to blow up Americans or Jews. She went because she was searching for the perfect Islamic state, something she thought the Taliban might offer her. Ms Neighbour interviewed Ms Hutchinson once or twice a week over a period of 18 months. She found no evidence that she engaged in terrorism; nor, it seems, did the Australian authorities.
Ms Hutchinson escaped from Afghanistan with her children after the American-led invasion in October 2002. She returned to Sydney where she is watched closely by Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, and, Ms Neighbour writes, has become “a virtual prisoner in her home”. It appears that Ms Hutchinson is being punished for her religious views and her associations.
The above paragraphs are the conclusion of a review in The Economist of The Mother of Mohammed: An Australian Woman’s Extraordinary Journey into Jihad by Sally Neighbor. The interesting part for me is the inherent trouble with the pursuits of utopia, as well as Western fears of such.
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