The woman was already sentenced to six years in prison in the spring of 2022 for gross war crimes, after she took her son to the Islamic State in Syria and let him become a child soldier, where he died at the age of 16.
On Monday, the 52-year-old from western Sweden was summoned to court again, this time accused of crimes against humanity, genocide, and gross war crimes.
Prosecutor Reena Devgun alleges that the woman held six children and three women as slaves in her home in the Syrian city of Al-Raqqa between 2014 and 2015, when the city was the capital of the IS caliphate.
The woman, with shoulder-length gray hair, dark glasses, and dressed in a light pink blouse, denies the allegations through her defense attorney Mikael Westerlund.
Genocide according to the UN
All nine plaintiffs in the case belong to the Yazidi minority, which IS intended to exterminate as an ethnic group, according to the UN, among others. They were captured and taken to Syria in connection with the terrorist group's attack on the Yazidis in Sinjar, northern Iraq, in August 2014.
They were bought and sold several times within IS, and were enslaved in the 52-year-old's home between 2014 and 2015, according to the indictment.
There, she treated them as slaves and humiliated them in various ways, including threatening them and beating them, and forcing them to convert to Islam, says Reena Devgun.
NN (the 52-year-old) has subjected the plaintiffs to severe suffering, torture, or other inhuman treatment.
Sold further
She later sold them to other IS supporters, where they risked being killed or continued to be subjected to severe suffering, including serious sexual abuse, says Devgun.
Crucial to the indictment is the context in which the woman's actions took place, namely IS's attempt to exterminate the Yazidis.
A genocide can be committed through individual acts, provided that the act is part of a pattern of similar acts. Therefore, it is important to understand the context in which they are committed, says Reena Devgun.
None of the plaintiffs are present in court on Monday, and those who will be heard will do so later behind closed doors.
In September, a 52-year-old woman was charged at Stockholm District Court for crimes against humanity, genocide, and gross war crimes. The woman denies the allegations.
According to the indictment, the 52-year-old enslaved six Yazidi children and three women in her home in the Syrian city of Al-Raqqa between 2014 and 2015, when the city was under IS control.
The indictment is the first in Sweden for crimes against humanity, and the first to try IS's attack on the Yazidi minority. In Europe, similar charges have only been brought in Germany.
The woman grew up in western Sweden and traveled to Syria in 2013 to live in the Islamic State with her husband. In 2022, she was sentenced to six years in prison for gross war crimes and gross violations of international law, after she took her then 12-year-old son to Syria and let him become a child soldier in IS. The boy was killed at the age of 16 in Syria.
Source: The Prosecution Authority
