A court in Germany has convicted an Iraqi couple of enslaving two Yazidi girls in Iraq.


In Munich, the Higher Regional Court also found the couple guilty of membership of the Islamic State group (IS).


The man, named only as Twana H.S., was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and severe sexual abuse of children.


Their wife, Asia R. A., received a nine‑and‑a‑half‑year sentence. The couple had been arrested in Bavaria in 2024.


Yazidis are a Kurdish‑speaking minority who were targeted by IS when the group seized territory in Syria and Iraq from 2014 onwards.


The case saw thousands of men killed and many women and children enslaved and raped as IS forces invaded the Yazidi heartland.


Germany recognises these acts as genocide. Prosecutors accused the defendants of forming part of this systematic campaign to destroy the Yazidi faith.


Twana H.S. arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker in the early 2000s. He worked as a hairdresser and had a child. He gained permission to stay as the parent of a German-born child after asylum was denied.


After becoming radicalised at a Munich mosque, he returned to Iraq in 2015.


Prosecutors say the couple married in Iraq following Islamic law and joined ISIS between Oct. 2015 and Dec. 2017.


Asia R. A. was under 21 when the crimes occurred.


In autumn 2015, Twana H.S. bought a five‑year‑old Yazidi girl as a slave in Mosul at his wife's request. In early Oct. 2017, they bought a 12‑year‑old Yazidi girl.


Prosecutors claim Twana H.S. repeatedly raped both children. Asia R. A. is said to have applied makeup on one of the girls and prepared a room for him.


The couple allegedly forced the girls into household work and child‑care, and prohibited them from practising their religion.


The children were beaten sometimes with solid objects. In one instance, Asia R. A. scalded a younger girl’s hand with hot water.


During the trial, the eldest Yazidi girl testified of beatings, forced labour and repeated rapes. The second girl remains missing.


The trial was held under Germany’s universal jurisdiction principle, allowing prosecution of alleged war crimes committed abroad.


Asia R. A., now separated from Twana H.S., expressed sincere remorse in court, saying, "I'm sorry." Twana H.S. declined to speak.