Swedish Woman Sentenced to 12 Years for IS Genocide Against Yazidis

SESweden|

A Swedish woman, Lina Ishaq, 52, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for genocide and war crimes against the Yazidi community, after her involvement with the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. According to the Stockholm District Court, Ishaq was found guilty of holding three Yazidi women and six children as slaves in Raqqa from 2014 to 2016, marking the first such trial for IS crimes against Yazidis in Sweden.

Ishaq, who moved to Syria in 2013, is already serving sentences for bringing her young son to join IS and failing to prevent her other son, who died in 2017, from being used as a child soldier. The court stated she participated in the systematic enslavement of Yazidi women and children, enforcing strict adherence to IS's interpretation of Islam through physical violence.

The Yazidis, an ancient religious minority targeted in genocidal attacks by IS in 2014, have faced persecution, with an estimated 5,000 killed and thousands more enslaved. The verdict is seen as a step towards restoring trust between the Yazidi community in Sweden and local authorities, according to community leaders. Ishaq plans to appeal her conviction, her lawyer stated.

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