A German woman appeared in court on Wednesday accused of complicity in war crimes and genocide with the Islamic State group in Syria by enslaving a Yazidi woman.

The 37-year-old woman, identified as Nadine K., is also charged with crimes against humanity and joining a foreign terrorist group. She appeared before the court in the city of Koblenz in southwestern Germany.

German authorities believe that in December 2014, the woman and her husband traveled from Germany to the Islamic State-controlled part of Syria where they joined the extremist jihadist organisation. They eventually settled with their daughter in Mosul, Iraq, which was then the headquarters of the Islamic State.

Rape and abuse

Since early 2016, Nadine K. And her husband, a Yazidi woman, as a slave. The man regularly raped and beat the woman, something Nadine K. the prosecutor said when the woman was charged in September.

The prosecution believes that the accused was watching to prevent the escape of the then 22-year-old Yazidi woman, forcing her to do housework and take care of the children. In addition, the prosecution was prosecuted for forcing her to convert from Yazidism.

In fall 2016, they are said to have moved to Syria, where they stayed until their arrest by Kurdish forces in 2019. The Yazidi woman is said to have been released afterward.

persecuted minority

The Kurdish-speaking Yezidis who come from northern Iraq have been persecuted by ISIS fighters for years.

The Yezidis are a minority that lives in Iraq and several other countries in the Middle East and they have their own religion. When the Islamic State group took control of large parts of Iraq and Syria, thousands of Yazidi women were held as slaves.