Syrian returnee from Herne in court: Accusation of IS membership and war crimes

A woman returning from Syria from Herne has to answer as a suspected IS terrorist at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. In addition to IS membership, the 34-year-old is also accused of war crimes by the public prosecutor's office.

His client would comment on the allegations, her defense attorney announced at the start of the trial. But it wasn't until the next day of the trial - she was very excited after all these years.

The woman appeared in the dock wearing a black headscarf, light shirt and jeans. According to the prosecution, she traveled to the war zone eleven years ago with her husband and their two children. The daughter was six and the son was one year old. In doing so, the mother put the children in danger of death and endangered the child's well-being, the public prosecutor's office accuses her.

The German-Lebanese is said to have been an IS member between September 2015 and October 2017. While her husband is said to have taken part in combat operations as an IS terrorist, she ran the household and looked after the children. She accepted that the apartment provided by IS had previously been unlawfully taken over by the terrorist militia.

The defendant is also said to have taken part in a shooting exercise and allowed her underage children to also handle weapons. Between March and June 2016, according to the Attorney General's Office, she is said to have received four payments from IS of $200 each. The husband is said to have been killed in a US drone strike in October 2017.

After fleeing the war zone, the defendant was reportedly initially arrested in Turkey. In February 2019 she traveled to Germany with her children. She is at large. The court has scheduled seven days of hearings for the case.

Judicial circles said that the 34-year-old had denied the accusations made by the prosecution before the trial. Her defense attorney confirmed on the sidelines of the hearing that his client had initially been deprived of custody of the children, but that it had been granted back to her in 2020. The criminal proceedings against her had already been discontinued and then reopened following new information.