German Court Sentences Iraqi Couple for Enslaving Yazidi Girls

A Munich court has convicted an Iraqi couple of enslaving Yazidi girls, marking a significant legal victory for the persecuted minority.

The man, identified only as Twana H.S., was sentenced to life imprisonment, found guilty of charges including genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and severe child abuse.

His wife, Asia R. A., received a juvenile sentence of nine and a half years. The couple was arrested in Bavaria.

The Yazidi community, a Kurdish-speaking minority, faced brutal persecution by the Islamic State (IS) starting in 2014. IS forces killed thousands of Yazidi men and enslaved women and children as they seized territory in Iraq and Syria.

Germany officially recognizes these atrocities as genocide. Prosecutors alleged that Twana H.S. and Asia R. A. participated in IS’s systematic campaign to destroy the Yazidi religion.

Twana H.S. reportedly returned to Iraq in 2015 after becoming radicalized in Germany. Prosecutors stated that the couple married in Iraq and joined IS between October 2015 and December 2017.

Evidence presented in court detailed that Twana H.S. purchased a five-year-old Yazidi girl as a slave in 2015 at his wife’s request. They later acquired a twelve-year-old Yazidi girl in 2017.

Both girls were subjected to severe abuse, including repeated rape by Twana H.S. His wife allegedly facilitated these acts and participated in the abuse, including scalding one of the girls and forcing them into labor and religious persecution. The children were also subjected to physical beatings.

Harrowing testimony from one of the surviving Yazidi girls was presented during the trial. The second girl remains missing.

The trial was held in Germany under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows for the prosecution of grave international crimes regardless of where they occurred.

During her closing statement, Asia R. A. apologized for her actions, while Twana H.S. declined to speak in court.

Source: Nile Post