She bought the girls, prepared them for rape, inflicted the abuse herself.
In a Munich courtroom, justice reached across borders and years to reckon with crimes committed in the shadow of the Islamic State's campaign against the Yazidi people. A German court convicted an Iraqi couple — one a former asylum seeker turned ISIS member, the other his wife — for the enslavement, rape, and abuse of two Yazidi girls purchased at a market in Mosul. The man received a life sentence for genocide and war crimes; his wife, nine and a half years. The verdict affirms that the destruction of a people carries consequences even when the perpetrators flee to distant shores.
- Two Yazidi children — one aged five, one aged twelve — were bought, raped, beaten, and forced into servitude by a couple who had joined ISIS in Iraq between 2015 and 2017.
- The younger girl had her hand scalded with hot water; the older survived to testify in a Munich court, while her companion remains missing to this day.
- The accused had lived quietly in Bavaria — one as a hairdresser with a German child, the other as his wife — before their 2024 arrests shattered that ordinary surface.
- Germany's invocation of universal jurisdiction placed the full weight of international law behind the prosecution, refusing to let geography become a shield for genocide.
- The life sentence handed to Twana H.S. and the nine-and-a-half-year term for Asia R. A. mark another step in Germany's sustained effort to hold former IS members accountable for atrocities committed abroad.
A Munich court has convicted an Iraqi couple of enslaving two Yazidi girls during their membership in the Islamic State, delivering a life sentence to the man and nine and a half years to his wife. Both were arrested in Bavaria in 2024.
Twana H.S. had come to Germany in the early 2000s as an asylum seeker, eventually settling in Munich as a hairdresser. Though his asylum claim was denied, he remained in the country after fathering a German child. He later became radicalized at a local mosque and returned to Iraq in 2015, where he married Asia R. A. and the two joined ISIS. His wife was under twenty-one at the time of the crimes.
The Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking religious minority of northern Iraq, were subjected to systematic genocide by the Islamic State beginning in 2014 — their men killed, their women and children enslaved. Into this horror, Twana H.S. purchased a five-year-old girl at a Mosul bazaar in autumn 2015, reportedly at his wife's request, and a twelve-year-old girl in October 2017. He repeatedly raped both children. Asia R. A. participated in the abuse, preparing one girl for assault and on at least one occasion scalding the younger child's hand with hot water. Both girls were forced into domestic labor and forbidden from practicing their faith.
The older girl testified at trial, describing the beatings, forced labor, and sexual violence she endured. The younger girl has never been found. In her final statement, Asia R. A. offered a brief apology; her husband said nothing.
The prosecution was made possible by universal jurisdiction, the legal principle allowing Germany to try war crimes and genocide committed beyond its borders. The conviction adds to a growing record of German prosecutions against former IS members for atrocities carried out in Iraq and Syria — a deliberate legal reckoning with crimes that might otherwise go unanswered.
A Munich court has convicted an Iraqi couple of enslaving two Yazidi girls during their time with the Islamic State in Iraq. The man, identified only as Twana H.S. under German privacy law, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and severe sexual abuse of children. His wife, Asia R. A., received nine and a half years in prison. Both were arrested in Bavaria in 2024.
Twana H.S. arrived in Germany in the early 2000s as an asylum seeker and worked as a hairdresser in Munich. Though his asylum claim was denied, he was permitted to remain because he had fathered a German child. At some point he became radicalized at a Munich mosque, and in 2015 he returned to Iraq. There he married Asia R. A. according to Islamic law, and the two joined the Islamic State between October 2015 and December 2017.
The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking religious minority whose ancestral homeland lies in northern Iraq. When the Islamic State seized control of large territories across Syria and Iraq beginning in 2014, the group systematically targeted the Yazidi population. Thousands of men were killed. Women and children were enslaved, raped, and subjected to forced labor as part of what Germany recognizes as genocide—a deliberate campaign to destroy the Yazidi religion itself.
According to prosecutors, Twana H.S. purchased a five-year-old Yazidi girl at a bazaar in Mosul in autumn 2015, acting on his wife's request. In early October 2017, the couple bought a twelve-year-old girl. Twana H.S. repeatedly raped both children. His wife prepared the household for these assaults, applying makeup to one of the girls before the attacks. The children were forced to perform household work and childcare while being forbidden from practicing their own faith. They were beaten, sometimes with solid objects. On at least one occasion, Asia R. A. scalded the younger girl's hand with hot water.
During the trial, the older girl provided testimony describing the beatings, forced labor, and repeated sexual violence she endured. The second girl remains missing. Asia R. A., now separated from her husband, apologized in her final statement, saying simply "I'm sorry." Twana H.S. declined to speak in court.
The case was prosecuted in Germany under the principle of universal jurisdiction, a legal doctrine that permits countries to prosecute war crimes, including genocide, even when they occur outside their borders. This principle has allowed Germany to hold accountable those who participated in the Islamic State's systematic persecution of the Yazidis, regardless of where the crimes took place. The conviction stands as one of several prosecutions Germany has undertaken against former IS members for atrocities committed in Iraq and Syria.
Citas Notables
I'm sorry— Asia R. A., the wife, in her final statement to the court
The Islamic State's objective to destroy the Yazidi religion— Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, describing the systematic campaign
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did Germany have the authority to try this case at all? The crimes happened in Iraq, not Munich.
That's the principle of universal jurisdiction. Germany, like many countries, decided that certain crimes—genocide, war crimes—are so grave that any nation can prosecute them, anywhere they occur. It's a way of saying: these acts belong to humanity's conscience, not just to the place where they happened.
And this man had actually lived in Germany before. He was an asylum seeker.
Yes. He came in the early 2000s, worked as a hairdresser, had a child. He was denied asylum but allowed to stay because of the child. Then he was radicalized at a mosque in Munich and went back to Iraq in 2015. It's a particular kind of tragedy—someone given refuge, then lost to extremism.
What strikes me is the wife's age. She was under 21 when all this happened.
She was a minor during the crimes. That's why she received a juvenile sentence—nine and a half years instead of life. The court recognized her age, but not her culpability. She actively participated: she bought the girls, she prepared them for rape, she inflicted the abuse herself. Her apology at trial was brief. Just "I'm sorry."
And one of the girls is still missing.
Yes. The older girl testified about what happened to her. But the younger one, bought in 2017, was never recovered. That absence hangs over the whole case. Justice for one, but not for the other.
What does this case mean for other IS prosecutions?
It shows that Germany is willing to use universal jurisdiction to hold people accountable for the Yazidi genocide specifically. There are other cases like this—former IS members living in Europe being tried for crimes committed in Iraq and Syria. This conviction sends a message that you can't simply return to Europe and disappear into ordinary life after participating in genocide.