Militant fighter suspected of letting yazidi girl die of thirst arrested in Greece
The jihadi husband of a German woman who is currently standing trial for letting a 5-year-old Yazidi girl die of thirst has been arrested in Greece, his lawyer confirmed to Euronews
Serkan Alkan says Taha A., who is an Iraqi citizen and suspected member of the so-called Islamic State (IS), has been arrested and is likely to face extradition to Germany to stand trial alongside his wife where “of course he faces a life sentence”.
Under international law, war crimes can be tried in any jurisdiction regardless of where the crime took place or the nationality of the alleged perpetrator or victim.
Jennifer W. is on trial in Munich charged with committing murder and of murder as a war crime as well being a member of a terrorist organisation.
The 27-year-old, who cannot be named in full due to German privacy laws, is accused of “purchasing” the Yazidi child and her mother, a co-plaintiff in the trial, as household “slaves” whom they held captive while living in then IS-occupied Mosul, Iraq, in 2015.
Prosecutors alleged Taha A. chained the little girl up outside the home after she wet her mattress and the couple then let the child die of thirst in the heat.
At least 4,800 Yazidi women and children are believed to have been sold into slavery during the period between 2014 and 2017 when IS was the height of its powers in Iraq and Syria, according to Dr Matthew Barber an expert in Yazidi history at the University of Chicago.
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