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.
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
France, Algeria to resume security cooperation: minister
- Algeria plays a key role in the latter, sharing borders with junta-led Niger and Mali, both gripped by terrorist violence
ALGIERS: France and Algeria agreed on Tuesday to restart security cooperation during a visit to Algiers by French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, marking the first sign of a thaw in diplomatic ties.
After meeting with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Nunez said both sides had agreed to “reactivate a high-level security cooperation mechanism.”
The visit took place against a backdrop of thorny relations between France and its former colony, frayed since Paris in 2024 officially backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region, where Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front.
Nunez said Monday had been devoted to working sessions aimed at “restoring normal security relations,” including cooperation in judicial matters, policing and intelligence.
He thanked the Algerian president for instructing his services to work with French authorities to “improve cooperation on readmissions.” Algeria has for months refused to take back its nationals living irregularly in France.
The renewed cooperation is expected to take effect “as quickly as possible” and continue “at a very high level,” Nunez confirmed.
According to images released by Algerian authorities, the talks brought together senior security officials from both countries, including France’s domestic intelligence chief and Algeria’s head of internal security.
Invited by his counterpart Said Sayoud, Nunez’s trip had been planned for months but repeatedly delayed.
Both sides have a backlog of issues to tackle. Before traveling, Nunez said he intended to raise “all security issues,” including drug trafficking and counterterrorism.
Algeria plays a key role in the latter, sharing borders with junta-led Niger and Mali, both gripped by terrorist violence.
Ahead of the trip, Nunez had also mentioned the case of Christophe Gleizes, a French sports journalist serving a seven-year sentence for “glorifying terrorism.”
It is unclear whether the matter was discussed with Tebboune, from whom the journalist’s family has requested a pardon.
