A German court 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 (IS) group.
The man, named only as Twana H.S. under German privacy rules, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges including genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and severe sexual abuse of children.
His wife, Asia R. A., received 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 group seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq beginning in 2014.
During the trials, prosecutors charged that the couple bought a five‑year‑old Yazidi girl in Mosul in 2015 and a twelve‑year‑old in 2017, repeatedly raping both and forcing them into household labor while forbidding religious practice.
Asia R. A. was under 21 when the crimes were committed. According to the court, she scalded one girl’s hand with hot water and helped prepare the environment for the abuse.
Witness testimony included a harrowing account from the eldest Yazidi girl, describing beatings and forced labor; one child remains missing.
The trial was possible under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows prosecution of alleged war crimes, including genocide, occurring overseas.
During the hearing, Asia R. A., now separated from Twana H.S., apologized, saying, "I’m sorry." Twana H.S. declined to speak.
