Swedish woman sentenced to prison for ISIS connection

The woman has been imprisoned in Iraq since autumn when she was convicted of entering the country illegally. In October, a Baghdad court acquited her on allegations that she belonged to Isis due to lack of evidence, but that ruling has now been overturned and she faces 15 years imprisonment, according to reports by Swedish broadcasters SVT and TV4.

Those media reports were confirmed by the Swedish Foreign Ministry on Sunday.

“We can confirm that she has been convicted of co-operating with Isis, but beyond that we have no comment,” ministry press officer Sofia Naring Bauer told TT.

Bauer declined to say whether the case would be appealed.

The 29-year-old woman had previously told interrogators she had come to Iraq with her husband and their three children, now aged five, four and three. She said her husband had been killed in 2016 during the bombing of Tal Afar, near Mosul in the north of the country.

She has claimed that she has never personally supported Isis nor sympathizes with its views. The Iraqi court, however, found that there was ample evidence that the woman knew what she was doing and that she had come to Iraq with the express purpose of joining Isis.

Her case marks the first time that a Swede has been sentenced under Iraq’s anti-terrorism law, under which courts can sentence to death anyone found guilty of belonging to Isis, including non-combatants.

Also on Sunday, an Iraqi court sentenced three French citizens to death after they were found guilty of joining Isis.

Source: The Local