Sweden Charges Woman with War Crimes for Torturing Yazidi Women, Children

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A 52-year-old woman linked to the Islamic State group has been charged in Sweden with serious offenses including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed against Yazidi women and children in Syria. This marks a landmark case in Sweden, as it is the first time these specific allegations against the Islamic State (IS) will be tried in the country.

The accused, Lina Laina Ishaq, allegedly carried out these crimes between August 2014 and December 2016 in Raqqa, which was once the self-proclaimed capital of the Islamic State. At that time, the city was home to approximately 300,000 inhabitants.

Prosecutor Reena Devgun emphasized that the charges stem from atrocities committed under IS rule in Raqqa. She noted the significance of the case, highlighting, “this is the first time that IS attacks against the Yazidi minority have been tried in Sweden.” The Yazidis, an ancient religious minority in Iraq, faced terrible persecution during IS’s control over parts of the country.

Devgun characterized the horrific conditions faced by the Yazidis during this period, stating, “Women, children and men were treated as property and subjected to slavery, sexual slavery, forced labor, and even extrajudicial executions.” She further underscored the scale of violence against the Yazidi community, indicating it was an organized attempt to exterminate them.

The prosecution’s announcement revealed that investigators were able to identify Ishaq through data collected by the United Nations team exploring war crimes in Iraq, known as UNITAD.

According to statements from the Stockholm District Court, Ishaq is accused of detaining several Yazidi women and children inside her home in Raqqa. She reportedly subjected them to severe suffering and inhumane treatment, denying them fundamental rights for cultural, religious, and gender reasons, which contravenes international laws.

The indictment states that Ishaq held nine captives, including children, for nearly seven months, treating them as slaves and inflicting physical and emotional abuse on them. One particularly disturbing allegation includes her being accused of silencing a one-month-old baby by covering the child’s mouth when it cried.

Further allegations claim that Ishaq knowingly sold individuals to IS, fully aware that they faced the risk of execution or severe sexual exploitation.

Ishaq, who denies all charges, maintains that she has never engaged in any form of human trafficking. Her lawyer, Mikael Westerlund, stated to the Swedish news agency TT that her defense rests on her assertion that she has never “bought,” “owned,” or “controlled” another person.

The tragic plight of the Yazidis began in 2014 when IS militants invaded their towns in Iraq’s Sinjar region, where they abducted and enslaved numerous women and children. Yazidi women often found themselves forced into sexual slavery, while boys were taken and brainwashed into adopting IS’s violent ideology.

The trial against Ishaq is scheduled to commence on October 7 and is expected to last approximately two months, with much of the proceedings being conducted in private.

Previously, Ishaq was convicted in Sweden for a separate incident involving her then two-year-old son. In 2014, she took the child to Syria, claiming to the father that they were only going on a vacation in Turkey. However, once in Turkey, they crossed into Syria, entering IS-controlled territory.

Following the dwindling power of IS in 2017, Ishaq fled Raqqa but was captured by Kurdish forces. She later escaped to Turkey, where she was detained along with her son and two other children born to her by a Tunisian IS fighter. Subsequently, she was extradited back to Sweden, where she was initially tried without being named publicly.

Before the incidents that led to her current charges, Ishaq was a resident of Landskrona, a town in southern Sweden.