Canadian woman accused of joining ISIS was ‘brainwashed,’ former friend testifies

A witness testifying at the trial of a Canadian woman accused of joining ISIS in Syria has described watching her close friend become “brainwashed.” Naveed Deol said she and Ammara Amjad were once like sisters. But Amjad’s extremist rhetoric eventually became so preachy that they parted ways.“It just wasn’t the same person,” Deol testified.Captured in Syria during the 2019 defeat of ISIS, Amjad is currently on trial in Brampton, Ont., for participating in the activities of a terrorist group.She is the first Canadian woman to face criminal prosecution for allegedly living under the Islamic State in Syria as the terror group committed atrocities.The Crown wrapped up its case against the Pakistan-born 32-year-old mother of two on Wednesday, following testimony from the RCMP officer who extracted Amjad’s messages from her mother’s phone. Story continues below advertisement Appearing as a Crown witness on Tuesday, Deol described her former friend’s sudden transformation — a change she blamed on Amjad’s first husband, Canadian extremist Bilal Khan.Deol said she first met Amjad when their families lived in Montreal. She later moved in with the Amjads in Brampton while she completed her st...