Yazidi war crimes: Swedish woman faces trial for IS involvement
The prosecution in Stockholm has charged a 52-year-old supporter of the Islamic State (IS) with crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against the Yazidi minority in Syria between 2014 and 2016. This is the first such case in Scandinavia.
Born into a Christian family in Iraq but raised in Sweden, Lina I., will face trial for crimes that include, among other things, the torture of children. In her home in Raqqa, the informal capital of the self-proclaimed IS caliphate, she held nine people, including women and children, for several months.
"Women, children and men were regarded as property and subjected to being traded as slaves ... [and] forced labour," said prosecutor Reena Devgun. In her home, Lina I. had weapons and a belt with explosives, which she used to threaten her victims. The woman denies all charges.
The trial is set to begin on 7 October and is expected to last about a month. In 2022, Lina I. was sentenced in Sweden to three years in prison for taking her 12-year-old son to Syria and allowing him to be recruited by IS. The boy was an IS soldier from 2013 to 2016 and died in the war at the age of 16.
Sweden. The woman's views became radicalised
According to the newspaper "Expressen," the woman played in a first-league women's football club in Sweden when she was 19. She later moved to the United Arab Emirates, where her views became radicalised. She then moved to the United Kingdom. In 2013, Lina I. travelled with her then-husband and five children to Syria, where she joined IS. After her husband died in the war, the woman became involved with another man and had more children.
The IS supporter returned to Sweden in 2020. In Sweden, the woman was under investigation for unlawfully receiving benefits from the public social security system while abroad. Still, the case was dismissed due to the inability to determine her place of residence.
