German court jails Iraqi couple for enslaving Yazidi girls
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A German court sentenced on Monday an Iraqi couple after convicting them of enslaving two Yazidi girls and belonging to ISIS, ruling that they were responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, and sexual abuse committed against the children.
Judge Philipp Stoll told reporters at the Munich court that the defendants were “guilty of committing genocide, crimes against humanity, enslavement, torture, war crimes, sexual abuse of children, and membership in a foreign terrorist organization.”
After a trial lasting about 18 months, the court sentenced the husband to life imprisonment and his wife to nine years and six months in prison, taking into account that she was a minor at the beginning of the crimes, according to the court.
The couple left Syria in November 2017 after abandoning the two girls with other ISIS members. They were arrested in southern Germany in 2024.
According to a court statement, the couple enslaved a five-year-old Yazidi girl in late 2015 and later enslaved a 12-year-old girl from October 2017. Both girls were subjected to sexual abuse.
The statement added that the husband, identified as Tuana H.S., beat the older girl with a broom handle, while his wife burned the younger girl’s hand.
During the sentencing hearing, Judge Stoll read a statement from the two survivors, who said: “We Yazidi girls were slaves. Even dogs were worth more than us. Our childhood was nothing but suffering.”
The case is among several prosecutions in Germany involving crimes committed by ISIS members against the Yazidi community, which was targeted during the group’s 2014 offensive in Iraq.