ISIS couple who enslaved and raped Yazidi girls aged five and 12 are jailed in Germany
A German court has jailed an Iraqi ISIS couple for enslaving and sexually abusing two Yazidi girls aged five and 12, in a case linked to the group’s campaign against the Yazidi minority. The ruling matters because it is another attempt to hold ISIS members accountable in Europe for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Iraq and Syria. It also highlights how children were targeted through rape, forced labour and religious persecution as part of ISIS rule.
The court heard that between 2015 and 2017 the couple bought the two girls as slaves, forced them to work and prevented them from practising their religion. Prosecutors said the husband repeatedly raped both girls, while the wife helped facilitate the assaults and took part in their abuse, including beatings and scalding punishments. The husband was given a life sentence and the wife was jailed for nine and a half years; as ISIS lost territory, the pair fled and later sold the girls to another ISIS member before eventually being arrested in Germany.
In short
- German court jailed ISIS couple for enslaving and abusing Yazidi children
- Husband got life; wife was sentenced to nine and a half years
- Case centres on genocide, rape, forced labour and religious persecution
Explained simply
The Yazidis are a religious minority primarily based in Iraq. Between 2014 and 2017, the Islamic State, known as ISIS, controlled parts of Iraq and Syria and targeted Yazidis specifically, enslaving thousands of people as part of what has been described as genocide.
Girls and young children were among those enslaved during ISIS's rule. Enslaved Yazidi children were forced to work, prevented from practising their religion, and sexually abused by ISIS members—treatment that human rights organisations document as systematic violence against the Yazidi people.
European countries have been prosecuting ISIS members arrested within their borders or who have fled there, attempting to hold them accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity. These legal processes help establish what happened and seek justice for survivors of the group's violence.