German Police arrest Iraqi Couple suspected of genocide

German police apprehended an Iraqi couple suspected of being Islamic State members, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.

According to the report, they were arrested on accusations of genocide and crimes against humanity after enslaving two Yazidi girls.

Twana H. S. and Asia R. A. were detained on Tuesday for their abuse of the girls in Iraq and Syria between 2015 and 2017. Their surnames were not revealed due to German privacy laws.

Prosecutors claimed that the girls were physically tortured, repeatedly raped, and barred from practicing their religion. According to prosecutors, the couple handed over the girls to other IS members before fleeing Syria in November 2017.

German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction legislation to prosecute crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

Meanwhile, in a historic decision in 2021, a German court sentenced a former IS member to life in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity against Yazidis.

Report says the jihadist 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 the Islamic State targeted for their faith that combines elements of Zoroastrian, Christian, Manichean, Jewish, and Muslim beliefs.