German woman accused of crimes against humanity in Iraq faces retrial

German woman accused of crimes against humanity in Iraq faces retrial

German woman accused of crimes against humanity in Iraq faces retrial

A new trial against a German Islamist extremist who was accused of letting a 5-year-old Yezidi girl die was set to begin on Wednesday in a Munich court.

The woman, named only as Jennifer W under German privacy laws, allegedly stood idly by in Iraq while a young Yazidi girl died in the midday heat.

The woman may face a more extended period in prison after an appeals court ruled in March that a 10-year sentence handed to her in 2021 was too lenient.

The Munich Higher Regional Court has now scheduled eight days of hearings before a different criminal senate for the new trial.

The defendant joined Islamic State at the age of 23, married in Syria at a time when the terrorist organisation had occupied a large swathe of eastern Syria and north-western Iraq.

Her former husband chained up the girl in the courtyard of their home.

He is serving a life sentence in Germany after being found guilty of genocide by a Frankfurt court. That sentence has been confirmed by the Karlsruhe court.

The man bought the girl and her mother after they had been abducted by Islamic State, a fate suffered by many Yezidis.

The girl died in August 2015, as the temperature in Falluja soared above 50 degrees Celsius.

The man had chained her to the bars of a window by her hands with her feet hanging in the air and she suffered heat stroke before he unchained her.

The German courts found that Jennifer W had failed to act to save the girl.

A new verdict could be handed down on Aug. 29. The first trial started in April 2019 and lasted about two and a half years.

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