Swedish mother charged with recruiting son to fight in Syria

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A Swedish woman has been charged with war crimes for helping enlist her 12-year-old son to fight as a child soldier in Syria where he was killed, prosecutors said yesterday.

The 49-year-old woman, a Swedish citizen who returned from Syria in 2020, is the first person to be charged in Sweden court with helping the recruitment of her own minor son as a child soldier. 

The 12-year-old boy was born in 2001, fought in 2013 for ISIS and died in 2017. No further identifying details about the mother or her child were released by the court.

If the woman found guilty she will face a minimum prison sentence of four years, according to the Swedish low. 

Recruiting and using children under the age of 15 as soldiers is prohibited under international humanitarian law – treaty and custom – and is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court.