STOCKHOLM, Sept 19 (Askume) – Swedish prosecutors on Thursday charged a woman with crimes against humanity for targeting women and children from the Yazidi religious minority in Syria between 2014 and 2016, the first time such charges have been brought in the Nordic country.
He said the woman, a 52-year-old Swedish citizen named in court as Lena Ishak, is also accused of committing genocide and war crimes or being an accomplice to these crimes between 2014 and 2016.
Prosecutors say he traveled to Syria to help establish the rule of Islamic State (IS), a radical Islamist group that seized large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014 but was eventually defeated.
Prosecutor Reena Devgan said in a statement that the woman allegedly “bought or received civilian women and children belonging to the Yazidi minority at her residence in Raqqa, Syria” and treated them like slaves.
“In addition, they were subjected to severe suffering, slavery or other inhumane treatment. They were deprived of their liberty in the woman’s home and prohibited from leaving, in violation of international law,” Davgon said.
His lawyer Mikael Westerlund said the defendant returned to Sweden in 2020 and is currently serving a sentence in prison for other crimes committed in Syria .
Under Swedish law, courts can prosecute people who have committed crimes against international law abroad.
The prosecution said crimes against humanity could include murder, rape, torture and forced labour if the crimes were part of a widespread or systematic attack against a group of civilians.
In 2022, a Swedish court found the same woman guilty of war crimes and violating international law for failing to prevent her 12-year-old son from becoming a child soldier in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, governed by Islamic State.
