Munich, Germany – In a landmark ruling welcomed by survivors of ISIS atrocities and human rights advocates, the Higher Regional Court of Munich has sentenced a former Iraqi ISIS member to life imprisonment and his former wife to nine years and six months in prison for their roles in the enslavement and abuse of two young Kurdish Yazidi girls.
The convictions stem from crimes committed between 2015 and 2017 in ISIS-controlled areas of Iraq and Syria, where the couple held a five-year-old and a twelve-year-old Kurdish Yazidi girl as slaves, subjecting them to horrific physical, psychological and sexual abuse.
According to Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor, the defendants—identified as Twana H., 43, also known as Abu Abdullah, and Asia R., 29—kept the girls in captivity, forcing them to perform domestic labour while indoctrinating them with ISIS ideology.
The court heard harrowing testimony detailing the suffering endured by the victims. Prosecutors established that Twana H. repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted both girls. The court also found that his wife not only failed to prevent the abuse but actively facilitated it by preparing a room for the assaults and, on one occasion, applying makeup to one of the girls before she was abused.
The girls were also subjected to severe physical torture. Evidence presented during the trial showed that the older child was repeatedly whipped, while the younger girl’s hands were deliberately burned with boiling water. As punishment, both children were frequently forced to stand on one leg for extended periods.
When ISIS began to collapse in late 2017, the couple fled Syria. Instead of freeing the two Kurdish Yazidi girls, they handed them over to other ISIS militants before escaping.
German authorities arrested Asia R. in the city of Regensburg and Twana H. in the Rost district in April 2024. During the trial, Asia R.’s defence argued that she had been forced into marriage and had not willingly supported ISIS. The court rejected that argument, concluding that the evidence demonstrated her active participation in the crimes.
Following an 18-month trial, the court convicted Twana H. of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, sentencing him to life imprisonment. Asia R. was convicted of aiding and abetting those crimes and sentenced to nine years and six months in prison.
The verdict marks another significant step in Germany’s ongoing efforts to prosecute ISIS members for atrocities committed against the Yazidi community and reinforces the principle that those responsible for genocide and crimes against humanity will be brought to justice, regardless of how much time has passed.