A Swedish court has sentenced a 52-year-old woman to 12 years in prison for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against Yazidi women and children in Syria, news reports said on Tuesday, marking Sweden’s first conviction related to Islamic State (IS) atrocities against the Yazidi minority.
The woman, identified as Lina Ishaq, was found guilty of keeping Yazidi women and children as slaves in her home in Raqqa, Syria, during 2015. The court determined that she held them captive, subjected them to forced labor, and imposed religious practices upon them.
Initially, the crimes warranted a 16-year sentence. However, considering a prior six-year sentence from 2022 for allowing her 12-year-old son to be recruited as a child soldier by IS, the court adjusted the total imprisonment time to 12 years.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, citing the severity of the offenses. Prosecutor Reena Devgun expressed satisfaction with the convictions but indicated plans to appeal the sentence, believing there is justification for a harsher penalty.
