The women who left Germany to join ISIS and returned are standing trial.





<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>



ISIS Women In Court: Jennifer W. – Enslavement Resulting In Death


Read ISIS Women in Court: Jennifer W. – Enslavement Resulting In Death by
clickinghere
<[link removed]>
.



ISIS Women in Court: Jennifer W. – Enslavement Resulting In Death



By Sofia Koller, Senior Research Analyst, CEP



The women who left Germany to join ISIS and returned are standing trial. This
CEP blog series follows the trials of some of these female returnees, including
Monika K. (readhere
<[link removed]>
), Nadine K. (here
<[link removed]>
andhere
<[link removed]>
), and Marcia M. (here
<[link removed]>
). An overview of the state of prosecutions in Germany can be found here
<[link removed]>
(available in English and German) and recent developments in repatriationhere
<[link removed]>
.



Jennifer W. was the “first
<[link removed]>
ISIS member who was put on trial anywhere in the world for international
crimes committed against Yazidi victims.” She was convicted before the Higher
Regional Court in Munich in October 2021 for, inter alia, her involvement in
the death of a Yazidi girl, but the public prosecutor successfully appealed the
verdict. As her second trial comes to an end, this blog reflects on Jennifer
W.’s case.



According to the 2021 verdict
<[link removed]>
, Jennifer W. was raised by her mother and did not have contact with her
father. She left school early without a degree and never held a job. As a
teenager, she was friends with Muslims and Yazidi Kurds and became interested
in Islam, the Kurdish community, and the war in Syria. Through her relationship
with a man of Turkish origin, Jennifer W. converted to Islam in 2012 and
adopted very conservative religious practices and worldview. Shortly after the
declaration of ISIS’s “caliphate” in June 2014, she decided to travel to Syria.



Jennifer W. first stayed in guest houses for women (madafa), where all
unmarried foreign women in ISIS territory had to reside until they were
married. After a short-lived first marriage with a German-speaking ISIS member,
she met Taha Al J., an Iraqi national who held Quran readings (ruqia) at her
madafa. Jennifer W. showed interest in marrying him but made clear to Taha Al
J. that she was not keen on taking care of the household. In response, Taha Al
J. offered to procure help. Without Jennifer W.’s knowledge, he bought Nora T.
B. and her five-year-old daughter Reda as domestic slaves. They were Yazidi and
had been enslaved by ISIS since August 2014, when the terror group carried out a
genocide <[link removed]> against the Yazidi
community.



Fallujah, Summer 2015



Jennifer W. and Taha Al J. married according to Islamic law in summer 2015. On
their way to Fallujah, Iraq, the couple picked up Nora T. B. and Reda, keeping
them as slaves for six weeks. The mother and daughter were not permitted to
leave the house without authorization. Occasionally, Reda was allowed to play
with other children in the neighborhood. The couple exploited Nora T. B. for
household chores. Jennifer W. made sure that they could not escape and gave
Nora T. B. orders, including to carry out Muslim prayers. While it was Taha Al
J. who regularly physically abused Nora T. B. and Reda, it was Jennifer W. who
often complained about their behavior, knowing her husband would punish them.



A Crime Against Humanity



On a hot summer day, Taha Al J. first made Nora T. B. stand barefooted outside
in the courtyard. He then tied Reda against an outdoor grid of the house’s
courtyard in the midday heat with her arms above her head. She was tied up so
high that she could not support herself on her feet. At first, Jennifer W. did
nothing to prevent this. When she finally saw the child hanging, she realized
the life-threatening situation and told Taha Al J., who did not react. Finally,
Taha Al J. took Reda inside, but when Jennifer W. tried to give her some water,
the girl’s mouth was too stiff to open. When Taha Al J. took the child away,
Reda “was
<[link removed]>
irrecoverably unconscious or already dead." Jennifer W. then held a weapon to
Nora T. B.’s head, threatening to shoot her if she did not stop crying, despite
her obvious distress from Reda’s death.



Unsuccessful Return to ISIS



After the child’s death, Taha Al J. and the mother were questioned by ISIS
security officers. Nora T. B. did not return to the couple’s household and Taha
Al J. was supposed to be taken into custody, but the couple managed to escape
and flee to Turkey. Jennifer W. was arrested at the German embassy in Turkey,
where she had been asking for travel documents. In February 2016, she was
extradited to Germany, where she continued to live with her mother and gave
birth to a daughter, the child of Taha Al J.



Jennifer W. had planned to return to ISIS. However, she discussed Reda’s death
and her travel plans with a trusted contact that turned out to be a person who
was in contact with the German security authorities. She was subsequently
arrested on her way to Greece.



Highest Sentence for a Female Returnee



Before the Higher Regional Court in Munich, Jennifer W. finally confessed,
though only partially, to traveling to ISIS territory and her husband’s ISIS
membership. She denied having exploited Nora T. B. and argued that she did not
dare to try and save Reda for fear of being pushed or locked up by her husband.



After 77 days of trial and based on the evidence presented in court, the 8th
Criminal Senatefound
<[link removed]>
that “the defendant did not make an effort to save the child, even though she
recognized that the child was in an imminently life-threatening condition.”



In October 2021, Jennifer W. was convicted
<[link removed]>
in first instance for membership in a foreign terrorist organization, aiding
and abetting an attempt to commit murder by omission, aiding and abetting by
omission an attempt to commit a crime against humanity in the form of killing a
human being, and aiding and abetting by omission an attempt to commit a war
crime against persons in the form of killing a person to be protected under
international humanitarian law as well as crimes against humanity.



Jennifer W. was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the highest prison sentence
for a female returnee inGermany
<[link removed]>
to date.



In November 2021, the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt convicted Taha Al
J.—who was arrested in Greece on a German arrest warrant—of genocide, crimes
against humanity, war crimes, and bodily harm resulting in death and sentenced
him to life imprisonment. The legally binding verdict represents the “first
<[link removed].>
conviction of an ISIS member for genocide anywhere in the world.”



A Less Serious Case?



The public prosecutor, however, appealed the verdict against Jennifer W. and
in March 2023, the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe (BGH) largely lifted
the verdict. Originally, the 8th Criminal Senate had argued that this was a “
less serious case
<[link removed]>
” of enslavement, limiting the maximum prison sentence. Following the
prosecutor’s arguments in the appeal, the BGHfound
<[link removed]>
that the court had not taken into account all the case’s aggravating
circumstances, especially the “inhuman
<[link removed]>
motives and goals of the defendant” and referred the case back to the court in
Munich.



The next blog in this series will focus on Jennifer W.’s second trial in
summer 2023.





###









Unsubscribe
<[link removed]>
|Donate <[link removed]> | Contact Us
<[link removed]>


Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe for yourself here
<[link removed]>
.