Iraqi couple jailed in Germany for enslaving Yazidi girls

A German court jails an Iraqi couple who were members of the Islamic State group for keeping two girls from the Yazidi minority as slaves.

The man, previously partially named by prosecutors as Twana H. S., is given a life sentence, while his wife Asia R. A. is handed a term of nine and a half years.

The court in Munich found that the couple had been Islamic State (ISIS) members between October 2015 and December 2017 and committed their crimes on Syrian territory.

By late 2015 the couple had bought a five-year-old girl as a slave and another who was 12 in 2017.

The couple forced the two girls to do housework and look after their children, and the court found that Twana H.S. raped both girls.

He also beat the older of the two girls with a broom handle, while Asia R. H. scalded the younger one’s hand.

In line with ISIS ideology the couple also suppressed any practice of the Yazidi faith and ordered the girls to abide by Islamic rules instead.

One of the girls followed the trial in person and broke down in tears at the sentencing.

Judge Philipp Stoll reads part of her testimony in which she said: “Even dogs were worth more than us. My whole childhood was nothing but suffering.”

The couple left Syria in November 2017 after handing the two young girls over to other ISIS members.

They were arrested in April 2024 in southern Germany.