On October 25, 2021, a German Court sentenced a German woman turned Islamic State (ISIS) supporter to 10 years of imprisonment for her involvement in the death of a Yazidi girl. This is the first conviction against an Islamic State member involved in a Yazidi persecution. Other nations could follow suit and bring ISIS perpetrators of Yazidi persecution accountable with the application of universal jurisdiction, the doctrine that allows any nation to prosecute crimes against humanity regardless of link between prosecuting country and location of a given crime.
The Crime
In 2014, the defendant, Jennifer W., moved to Syria to be part of ISIS and later married Iraqi citizen Taha A.J. She later became a part of the Islamic State’s morality police to enforce jihadist groups’ dress and behavior in the streets of Fallujah and Mosul.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the defendant and her husband, Taha A.J., who is separately on trial in Frankfort, “purchased” and owned two Yazidi slaves, mother and daughter, in 2015. The mother and daughter endured forced labor, violence, abuse, and inhuman conditions at the hands of their captives. In one instance, the defendant’s husband forced the girl outside in the heat without water and protection from the high temperature—this inevitably led to the girl’s death. The defendant remained complicit in the young girl’s death as she witnessed the girl’s mother plea to save her daughter.
With the defeat of ISIS in June 2018, the defendant returned to Germany. While on a cab ride, she confessed to the driver, who was part of the German intelligence, about her involvement with ISIS and the death of the slave she held captive. The confession led to her trial in 2018.
The Yazidis, an ethnic group in Syria and Iraq, have faced genocide at the hands of an Islamic state as they view their beliefs as resembling devil worshipping.
The case illustrates the progress of the judicial system to bring crimes committed by ISIS to justice.
The Conviction
According to the statement released from the prosecutor’s office reported in Euronews, the court found defendant Jennifer W. “guilty of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity through enslavement, attempted murder and aiding and abetting the war crime of attempted murder by omission, and membership in a foreign terrorist organization.”
Initially, prosecutors were reaching for a life sentence, however, the court determined based on the circumstances that the defendant had limited abilities to intervene and that she realized too late that the girl was in dire condition.
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney represented the girl’s mother and said in a statement reported in the New York Times, “it is a victory for everyone who believes injustice. I am grateful to the German Prosecutors for bringing this case and I hope that we will see a more concerted global effort to bring ISIS to justice.” The conviction marks the fifth German Court conviction of ISIS crimes against humanity pertaining to Yazidi crimes.
The case illustrates the progress of the judicial system to bring crimes committed by ISIS to justice.
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