German court convicts Iraqi couple of enslaving Yazidi girls
A German court has sentenced an Iraqi couple to prison for their roles in the enslavement of Yazidi girls and membership in the Islamic State. The husband received a life sentence for genocide and war crimes, while his wife received a juvenile sentence.
Why it matters
The verdict reinforces international legal efforts to prosecute perpetrators of the Yazidi genocide and hold individuals accountable for crimes against humanity.
Image source, Ehsan Monajati / dpa via AP Image caption, One of the defendants pictured in court in Munich on Monday
A court in Germany has convicted an Iraqi couple of enslaving two Yazidi girls in Iraq.
The Munich Higher Regional Court also found them guilty of membership of the Islamic State group (IS).
The man, named only as Twana H.S. in line with German privacy rules, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and severe sexual abuse of children.
His wife, Asia R. A., was handed a juvenile sentence of nine and a half years. The couple was arrested in Bavaria in 2024.
The Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking minority, were persecuted by IS after the jihadist group seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq beginning in 2014.
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