Identified only as Sarah O. in accordance with German security laws, the German-Algerian, hailing from the southern city of Konstanz, left for Syria at the age of 15 and is charged with “participation in war crimes, human trafficking and the deprivation of liberty,” according to German weekly Der Spiegel.
The case is closed to the public due to her being a minor at the time of her departure to Syria and to “protect the accused from exposure and stigmatization,” said the chief prosecutor.
Sarah O. is married to a prominent ISIS fighter currently detained in Turkey. It is believed that the couple enslaved three Yezidis, including a child.
Members of the Yezidi religious minority were taken captive, sold as sex slaves in the so-called ISIS caliphate after their homeland in the Shingal region of northern Iraq was overrun by the terror group in August 2014. The women and girls were often ‘gifted’ to foreign ISIS fighters before being repeatedly abused.
Deported to Germany in 2018, Sarah O. also faces potential charges of crimes against humanity and is said to have worked as a recruiter for ISIS.
The case is one of several taking place in Germany for similar offences, although none have been convicted as of yet. Proceedings began in April against a German woman accused of letting a five year old Yezidi child die of thirst. Her husband was extradited to Germany in October and the couple is accused of forcing the child and her mother to convert to Islam, before leaving the child to perish in the summer heat as punishment for soiling her bed.
Despite numerous appeals for an international tribunal to prosecute ISIS crime against the Yezidis, no progress has been made on working through the legal headaches that would be required to set up such a court. Facing continued harassment from their former captors in Europe, survivors have said they will return to Iraq if their abusers are allowed to walk Europe’s streets, unpunished.
Gian Aldonani, a Yezidi and board member of the Central Yazidi Council of Germany, attended the court hearing and urged Germany to use the case to set a precedent. “German courts have to set an example. Hundreds of Germans joined ISIS but only a few are on trial, and this is disappointing,” she told Rudaw.
Aldonani echoed other activists drawing attention to the role of ISIS women in committing atrocities against the Yezidi community, often overlooked when documenting their plight. “I am working with [former] ISIS slaves and what I’ve documented is horrible,” she said.
According to former captives, the women of ISIS were often more brutal than their male counterparts due to “jealousy,” said Aldonani. “They tortured and humiliated them many times...they [ISIS women] were not only brides, but terrorists who committed war crimes.”
Sarah O. may be tried as a youth, meaning she would face a maximum jail sentence of 10 years, according to Aldonani. A verdict is expected at the end of December.
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