Iraqi investigators conceded that the evidence against them was thin. Police found no explosives during the July 23 raid, and there was no residue on the women's hands.
All the police found was a wad of insurgent propaganda stashed in the roof of an outside toilet, including appeals to kill U.S. and Iraqi forces signed by the Islamic State of Iraq, a self-styled caliphate established by the militants. There was also a list of women's names and telephone numbers, and a letter written by Asma to her father, in which she speaks of being reunited in the next life.
Police suggested that the women may have been seeking revenge for their men or may have been motivated by financial pressure to work for the insurgency.
When Asma, 27, returned to her mother four months pregnant, it was a humiliation for the family as well as a financial blow. Ikran has struggled to make ends meet since her husband, a Health Ministry employee, was detained at Camp Bucca. The government gives her half his salary, and there were times when she couldn't collect the money because of the fighting.
Days after their arrest, the women were brought one by one before an investigative judge to determine whether there were grounds to prosecute them.
Asma trembled slightly as she confronted the judge in a dingy police office, where the sharp smell of urine mingled with a sickly perfume.
"Do you work for the Al Qaeda people?" he asked. "Did you help any fighters or armed groups?"
"No," she replied. "I didn't do anything wrong."
She said she didn't know how the fliers had gotten into the outhouse, that the names on the list were just friends, and that her letter had nothing to do with the insurgency.
When Ilaf began repeating the same answers, the judge cut the session short and dictated a statement to a clerk for the girl to sign.
"I don't want to waste time," he said. He remanded the women into custody pending further investigation; they were released Aug. 7.
The women's true intentions may never be known. But when asked what she thought of the women who carry out suicide attacks, Ikran responded firmly: "God gave us life. Who are we to take it away?"
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alexandra.zavis@latimes.com
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Hand over your guns
Israelis will have a month to turn in forgotten or purloined military gear without penalty. Items might include uniforms or weaponry. This and more at latimes.com/babylon
