Crime13 July, 20262 min read
German Court Sentences Iraqi ISIS Couple for Enslaving Yazidi Girls in Munich
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Munich court convicted Iraqi ISIS couple of enslaving two Yazidi girls in Iraq. Found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ISIS membership.
Munich sentences ISIS couple
A German court in Munich jailed an Iraqi couple for enslaving and sexually abusing two Yazidi girls, with the man identified as Twana H. S. receiving a life sentence and his wife, Asia R. A., getting nine and a half years.
The New Arab said the court found the couple were Islamic State (IS) members between October 2015 and December 2017 and that they committed their crimes on Syrian territory.
The BBC reported the Munich Higher Regional Court convicted the couple of membership in the Islamic State group and sentenced Twana H.S. to life imprisonment on charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and severe sexual abuse of children.
The BBC also said Asia R. A. was handed a juvenile sentence of nine and a half years and that the couple was arrested in Bavaria in 2024.
Testimony and courtroom statements
During sentencing, Judge Philipp Stoll read part of testimony from one of the girls, who said: "Even dogs were worth more than us. My whole childhood was nothing but suffering."
The New Arab added that Stoll stressed the couple had not been convicted as "representatives of the atrocities committed by the Islamic State group, but solely for their own actions."
In the BBC’s account of the trial, prosecutors said Twana H. S. "repeatedly raped both children" and that Asia R. A. "scalded the younger girl's hand with hot water," while the couple forced the girls to do household work and childcare.
The BBC further reported that Asia R.A. apologised during the trial and that in her final statement she said "I'm sorry," while Twana H.S. declined to speak in court.
What the convictions mean
The court’s findings, as described by the BBC, tied the abuse to IS’s campaign against the Yazidi religion, quoting the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office that the defendants were part of the systematic campaign "the Islamic State's objective to destroy the Yazidi religion." The New Arab said the couple suppressed any practice of the Yazidi faith and ordered the girls to abide by the strict interpretation of Islamic rules instead, and it reported that one of the girls followed the trial in person and broke down in tears at sentencing.
The BBC said Germany recognises the acts as genocide and that the pair stood trial in Germany because of the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows prosecutions for alleged war crimes, including genocide, occurring overseas. Separately, the BBC reported that Twana H.S. first came to Germany in the early 2000s as an asylum seeker and worked in Munich as a hairdresser, placing the case within a broader German legal and immigration context.