Woman goes on trial in Dusseldorf for keeping three Yazidi women as slaves after joining the Islamic State

A German-Algerian woman accused of joining Islamic State and keeping three Yazidi women as slaves in Syria has gone on trial.

Proceedings against the 21-year-old, identified only as Sarah O in line with German privacy rules, opened Wednesday at the Dusseldorf state court.

News agency dpa reported that judge Lars Bachler ruled that the proceedings should be closed to the public because the defendant was aged between 16 and 19 at the time of the alleged crimes.

Prosecutors say she travelled to Syria as a teenager in 2013, joined IS and married a fellow German IS recruit.

Both allegedly conducted ‘guard and police duties’ in IS-controlled areas, and also forced a Yazidi girl and two Yazidi women to work in their household.

Investigators say Sarah O, described as a ‘petite’ young woman with hip-length hair and black-rimmed glasses, was 15 years old when she decided to join IS, the Spiegel reported.

Sarah O allegedly married high-ranking IS fighter Ismail S a few months after her arrival in Syria and went on to have three daughters, according to reports.

She went to Turkey in February 2018 and in September that year was deported to Germany where she has remained in custody, Spiegel reported.

The alleged IS member was said to have visited a religious school in Algeria before leaving for Syria – where, it is reported, she lived with her husband in children in apartments whose owners were expelled or killed by IS.

It is claimed she tried to recruit more people for the Islamic State over the internet.

Reports indicate that her husband Ismail S is still in Turkey and is known to German authorities. He is said to have operated arms transactions with Islamic State in Syria with the help of his parents, who were living in Germany.

Father Ahmet, 51, and mother Perihan S, 48, sat in the dock with Sarah O, accused of supporting a terrorist organisation, it has been reported.

Source: Daily Mail