German woman charged with crimes against humanity and IS membership

German federal prosecutors have charged a suspected member of the so-called Islamic State (IS) group with crimes against humanity.

The German woman — only identified as Nadine K. — is accused of joining IS and having a Yazidi slave.

She has been charged with aiding and abetting genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Authorities claim that she travelled to Syria with her husband in December 2014 and joined IS there. The couple allegedly moved to the Iraqi town of Mosul in 2015 and raised their daughter in line with IS ideology.

Prosecutors say the couple stored hand grenades, assault rifles and explosives in their house and also set up a reception centre for single female IS members. Since 2016, they also allegedly kept a Yazidi slave at their home.

The couple forced the slave to observe Islamic rites, perform household chores, and take care of the children without pay, prosecutors said in a statement.

Authorities also claim that the woman knew that the Yazidi slave was regularly raped and beaten by her husband.

“All of this served IS’s stated goal of destroying the Yazidi faith,” prosecutors added.

Nadine K. was arrested upon arrival at Frankfurt Airport in March along with three other women. She will soon have to stand trial before the Koblenz Higher Regional Court, the federal prosecutor’s office said.

Last year, a German woman and suspected IS member was given a 10-year prison sentence for letting an enslaved Yazidi girl die of thirst.

The landmark case was one of the first trials in the world to prosecute a war crime against the Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking minority persecuted and enslaved by jihadists in Iraq and in Syria.

German woman charged with crimes against humanity and IS membership
Source: Reporters View PH