Dutch to prosecute woman for Daesh membership, Yazidi enslavement

Coffins with remains of Yazidis who were killed by Daesh militants are seen during a funeral in Kojo, Iraq on February 6, 2021. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 10 February 2023
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Dutch to prosecute woman for Daesh membership, Yazidi enslavement

  • The woman will also be tried for membership of a terrorist organisation along with 11 other women
  • It is the first time Dutch prosecutors have brought a case for crimes against humanity committed against Yazidis

THE HAGUE: Prosecutors in the Netherlands on Friday announced they plan to put a Dutch woman who joined Daesh on trial for crimes against humanity for enslaving a Yazidi woman in Syria in 2015.
The woman, identified by Dutch media as Hasna Aarab, will also be tried for membership of a terrorist organization along with 11 other women who were repatriated to the Netherlands in November last year from camps for Daesh members in Syria.
It is the first time Dutch prosecutors have brought a case for crimes against humanity committed against Yazidis, an ancient religious minority who combine Zoroastrian, Christian, Manichean, Jewish and Muslim beliefs, the prosecution service said in a news release.
In neighboring Germany, several former Daeshh members have already been convicted for crimes, including genocide, against Yazidis.
Daesh, which views the Yazidis as devil worshippers, have killed more than 3,000 of them, enslaved 7,000 Yazidi women and girls and displaced most of the 550,000-strong community from its ancestral home in northern Iraq.
Under Dutch universal jurisdiction laws, national courts can try suspects for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed on foreign soil as long as the accused reside in the Netherlands.
A trial date has not yet been set.


Iran-linked hackers claim cyberattack on Albanian parliament

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Iran-linked hackers claim cyberattack on Albanian parliament

  • Albania hosts several thousand members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI or MEK), an organization that Iran has denounced as 'terrorist'
  • Albania’s IT services were targeted, in 2022, prompting the Balkan country to sever diplomatic ties with Iran
TIRANA: Albania’s parliament on Tuesday said it had been hit with a “sophisticated cyberattack,” after Iran-linked hackers claimed to have stolen lawmakers’ data.
A group called “Homeland Justice,” which has previously been linked to Iran and claimed responsibility for past cyberattacks in Albania, announced the hack on Telegram.
“All conversations and correspondence of corrupt MPs from recent months are in the hands of Homeland Justice,” the post said.
“We are much closer to you than you think.”
Albania hosts several thousand members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI or MEK), an organization that Iran has denounced as “terrorist.”
Experts have warned that as the war in the Middle East continues, highly capable hackers linked to Iran have broadened their activities.
In a statement, the Albanian parliament said its computer systems had been hit with a “sophisticated cyberattack aimed at deleting data and compromising several internal systems.”
“It was found that information had been deleted from several accounts belonging to administration employees,” it added, saying “the main working infrastructure” did not appear to be affected and that measures had been taken “to neutralize the attack.”
The country’s National Cyber Security Authority said it had teams investigating the attack.
“Further information will be made public after the technical assessment is completed,” the authority’s director, Saimir Kapllani, told AFP.
In June, Homeland Justice also attacked the information technology services of the Albanian capital, Tirana.
In 2022, Albania’s IT services were also targeted, prompting the Balkan country to sever diplomatic ties with Iran.