In a historic decision, a Munich court convicted an Iraqi man and his wife for enslaving two Yazidi girls and subjecting them to repeated sexual assault. The husband, named only as Twana H.S. in line with German privacy rules, received a life sentence for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and severe sexual abuse of children.
The wife, Asia R. A., was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years, a term deemed juvenile according to German law, because she was under 21 at the time of the crimes.
Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking minority, suffered mass killings and rape at the hands of the Islamic State after the jihadist group seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014. Prosecutors said the couple bought a five‑year‑old Yazidi girl at a bazaar in Mosul in 2015 and a twelve‑year‑old girl in early October 2017.
Witness testimony revealed that the children were beaten, forced into household chores, prohibited from practicing their religion, and repeatedly raped. One of the girls described being scalded with hot water by Asia R. A. Prosecutors highlighted the defendants’ role in IS’s systematic campaign to destroy the Yazidi religion.
The trial was initiated under Germany’s universal jurisdiction rule, allowing prosecution of war crimes committed abroad. Asia R. A., now separated from her husband, apologized in court, saying, "I'm sorry", while Twana H.S. declined to speak. The case marks a significant judicial step against transnational atrocities linked to the Islamic State.
