BERLIN: German police have arrested an Iraqi couple alleged to be Daesh members, on suspicion of genocide and crimes against humanity for enslaving two Yazidi girls, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Twana H. S. and Asia R. A., whose surnames were not released under German privacy law, were arrested on Tuesday for their treatment of the girls between 2015 and 2017 in Iraq and Syria.
Prosecutors said the girls were physically abused, repeatedly raped and banned from practicing their religion. The couple handed the girls to other Daesh members before leaving Syria in November 2017, said prosecutors in a statement.
“All of this served the organization’s objective to destroy the Yazidi religion,” they added.
German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to prosecute crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world to bring such cases to trial.
In a landmark ruling in 2021, a German court sentenced a former Daesh member to life in prison for being involved in genocide and crimes against humanity against Yazidis. Two years later, German lawmakers recognized crimes committed by Daesh militants against Yazidis in Iraq in 2014 as genocide.
The militant group killed thousands of Yazidis, enslaved 7,000 Yazidi women and girls and displaced most of the 550,000-strong community from their ancestral home in northern Iraq.
The Yazidis are an ancient religious minority in eastern Syria and northwest Iraq that Daesh targeted for their faith that combines elements of Zoroastrian, Christian, Manichean, Jewish and Muslim beliefs.
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German police arrest Iraqi couple suspected of genocide for enslaving Yazidi girls
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German police arrest Iraqi couple suspected of genocide for enslaving Yazidi girls
- Twana and Asia were arrested on Tuesday for their treatment of the girls between 2015 and 2017 in Iraq and Syria
- The couple handed the girls to other Daesh members before leaving Syria in November 2017
Four injured, including three children in Russian attack on Odesa, Ukraine says
Russia launched an overnight drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa region, damaging residential buildings and infrastructure and injuring four people, including three children, regional authorities said on Wednesday. Odesa, a major Black Sea port, has been repeatedly targeted by Russian missiles and drones during nearly four years of war, with strikes frequently hitting energy, transport and port infrastructure as well as residential areas.
“Strike drones attacked residential, logistics and energy infrastructure in our region,” Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, said on the Telegram messaging app.
In Odesa city, which is the administrative center of the broader Odesa region, four people were injured, including a seven-month-old infant, two other children, and a 42-year-old man, Serhiy Lisak, the head of Odesa’s military administration, said on Telegram.
He said that drone debris and direct hits damaged facades and windows of several high-rise apartment buildings.
Lisak posted images showing smoke billowing from a multi-story apartment building at night, with flames visible in several windows and what appears to be a firefighter’s water jet aimed at the facade.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attacks on Odesa.
“Strike drones attacked residential, logistics and energy infrastructure in our region,” Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, said on the Telegram messaging app.
In Odesa city, which is the administrative center of the broader Odesa region, four people were injured, including a seven-month-old infant, two other children, and a 42-year-old man, Serhiy Lisak, the head of Odesa’s military administration, said on Telegram.
He said that drone debris and direct hits damaged facades and windows of several high-rise apartment buildings.
Lisak posted images showing smoke billowing from a multi-story apartment building at night, with flames visible in several windows and what appears to be a firefighter’s water jet aimed at the facade.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attacks on Odesa.
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