Dutch woman jailed for 10 years for keeping Yazidi slave in Syria

11/12/2024 19:47

A Dutch court on Wednesday sentenced a woman to 10 years in prison for joining Islamic State in Syria and keeping a Yazidi woman as slave.



Prosecutors had asked for an 8-year sentence for the Dutch woman, 33-year old Hasna Aarab, but the District Court in The Hague said the gravity of slavery as a crime against humanity required a stronger punishment.



Judges said it was clear that Aarab had actively participated in the enslavement of a Yazidi woman between 2015 and 2016, while she lived in Raqqa with her young son and her Islamic State fighter husband.



The Yazidi woman, identified only as Z., had been forced to work in their household, where she was also sexually abused.



Aarab knew of Z.'s dire situation and made it worse by ordering her to do household work and take care of her son, the judges said.



"She did this, knowing that what happened in her house was part of a widespread, systemic attack on the Yazidi community," the court said.



"These types of crimes against humanity are among the worst international crimes possible."