German court sentences IS-linked man to life in prison for enslaving and torturing Yazidi girls in Iraq

German court sentences Iraqi couple for enslaving Yazidi girls

A German court on Monday sentenced an Iraqi couple linked to the Islamic State militant group to lengthy prison terms for enslaving and abusing two Yazidi girls in Iraq. The Munich Higher Regional Court found the man, identified as Twana H.S., guilty of membership in the Islamic State group, genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and severe sexual abuse of children. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. His former partner, Asia R.A., was handed a juvenile sentence of nine and a half years.

The couple, most recently living in Germany, were arrested in the southern state of Bavaria in April of last year, according to Deutsche Welle. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had charged them with committing war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, as well as sexually abusing children and aiding and abetting the listed offenses.

The case against the couple is part of a broader legal effort in Germany to hold perpetrators accountable for atrocities committed by the Islamic State group, which Germany and other countries have recognized as genocide against the Yazidi population.

Coverage comparison

Both BBC and Deutsche Welle reported on the sentencing, with consistent details about the prison terms and the charges. BBC's coverage emphasized the couple's membership in the Islamic State group and their role in the systematic campaign against Yazidis, describing the acts as persecution and genocide. Deutsche Welle, in its two reports, focused on the legal aspects, describing the charges as war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, and noted the arrest in Bavaria.

The tone across the reports was generally neutral and informative, though BBC used more emotionally charged language such as "persecuted" and "radicalised," while one of the Deutsche Welle articles quoted a prosecutor's representative as calling the violence "monstrous" and "unreal." Both outlets reported the woman's apology during the trial.

Key claims

According to prosecutors, Twana H.S. first came to Germany in the early 2000s as an asylum seeker. He worked as a hairdresser in Munich and had a child. Although his asylum application was denied, he was allowed to stay as the parent of a German child, as reported by Der Spiegel. After becoming radicalized at a Munich mosque, he returned to Iraq in 2015.

Prosecutors said Twana H.S. and Asia R.A. were married under Islamic law and became members of the Islamic State between October 2015 and December 2017. In the autumn of 2015, Twana H.S. bought a five-year-old Yazidi girl as a slave at a bazaar in Mosul, at the request of his wife, and in early October 2017, the couple bought a twelve-year-old Yazidi girl. According to prosecutors, Twana H.S. "repeatedly raped both children," and his wife "put make-up on one of the girls" and prepared the room for him. The couple was accused of forcing the girls to do household work and childcare, and forbidding them to practice their own religion. The children were beaten, sometimes with solid objects, and Asia R.A. scalded the younger girl's hand with hot water.

The fate of one of the girls remains unknown; one source stated that the second girl is still missing.

The couple stood trial in Germany under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows prosecutions for serious international crimes regardless of where they were committed.