A German court has sentenced a man and a woman to long prison terms for enslaving and abusing two Yazidi girls under the so-called “Islamic State” group in Iraq.
The Iraqi couple were convicted of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. He was also convicted of sexually exploiting children and aiding and abetting the commission of listed offences.
The man was sentenced to life in prison, while his former partner was given a juvenile sentence of nine and a half years.
The couple, identified as Twana HS and Asia RA in line with German privacy laws, were most recently living in Germany and were arrested in the southern state of Bavaria in April last year.
The couple bought, enslaved and exploited girls aged between 5 and 12
The court proved that the defendants had enslaved two Yazidi girls while they were members of the so-called “Islamic State” – the same group that several countries, including Germany, had documented committing genocide against the Yazidi population in Syria and Iraq.
The couple bought two Yazidi girls as slaves in Iraq when they were five and 12 years old.
After this they started exploiting the girls, giving them forced labor and torture. It was found that the man had sexually abused the children, while the woman had allegedly abused them.
A representative of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said, “This terrible violence is so far removed from any sense of humanity that it seems unreal.”
Plaintiffs said they were treated worse than dogs
One of the formerly enslaved girls was present at the German court. As soon as the verdict was read on Monday, she started crying bitterly.
Presiding Judge Philip Stoll read testimony from one of the plaintiffs in which he said that “even the dogs were treated with more respect than us.”
The judge also said Monday’s verdict was the first conviction in Germany for forced religious conversion – in this case, the girls were forced to convert to Islam from the Yazidi religion.
The female defendant, now in her 30s, apologized during the trial. Her ex-husband had refused to speak in court.
Edited by: Zack Crellin
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