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
Sanchez hails Spain’s immigration approach as a model for EU
- Prime minister rejects critics who argue Spain’s stance fuels illegal migration to the country
MADRID: Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has hailed Spain’s openness to immigration as a model for Europe, saying it has benefited the economy and bolstered state coffers.
While other European nations have tightened their borders against newcomers under pressure from right-wing parties, Spain has championed legal immigration.
The country has opened up paths for migrants to live and work in the country legally, even as it has pushed to police its borders and block irregular migration.
Migration accounts for 80 percent of Spain’s economic growth over the past six years, and accounts for 10 percent of the country’s social security revenues, Sanchez said.
“Spain will continue to defend a migration model that works, one that works for Spain and could also help awaken an aging Europe,” the Socialist premier told a gathering of Spanish ambassadors in Madrid.
“Our model works. There is no so-called ‘pull effect,’” Sanchez added, rejecting critics who argue Spain’s pro-immigration stance fuels illegal migration to the country.
Irregular migrant arrivals to Spain fell by 42.6 percent in 2025 from the previous year to 36,775, largely due to a sharp drop in arrivals along the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands, according to Interior Ministry figures.
Spain has reached cooperation agreements with several African nations that are key sources of irregular migration to bolster the fight against smuggling networks.
Spain, the EU’s fourth-largest economy, has outperformed its peers since 2021, supported by tourism, low energy costs, domestic consumption, and foreign investment.
The government forecasts the economy will expand by 2.9 percent in 2025, more than twice the euro zone average.
