Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court condemns two brothers as IS terrorists

Two brothers have each been sentenced to four years in prison by the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court as IS terrorists. The court found the 47 and 43-year-old men guilty of joining the Islamic State terrorist militia in Iraq in 2016. One was a member of a so-called Sharia committee.

The other initially worked as a military police officer and later with the IS secret police. In addition to a 47-year-old Iraqi from Delbrück near Paderborn, his younger brother (43) from Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate) was also in the dock.

Names were found on IS payrolls

After the military defeat of IS in the summer of 2017, the men traveled via Turkey to Greece and from there to Germany. A key piece of evidence was IS payrolls in which the defendants and their activities were recorded.

The court considered the fact that the Iraqi brothers, as Sunnis, had themselves been persecuted and threatened by Shiite militias at the time, as a mitigating factor. This caused them to flee to the area controlled by IS.

The investigation got rolling after intelligence tips, whereupon the federal prosecutor's office brought charges against the brothers. They were arrested on December 2, 2025. The verdict is not yet final.