Conviction and Sentencing of ISIS Member Jennifer Wenisch in Germany

Khanke, Iraq: Today, a court in Munich, Germany, sentenced ISIS member Jennifer Wenisch to 10 years in prison for multiple crimes, including enslavement and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed against the Yezidi community.

Like many other women who joined ISIS, Wenisch, who travelled to Iraq in 2014, was not merely an “ISIS bride,” but played an active role in the enslavement and genocide of the Yezidi people. Along with her husband, Wenisch took a Yezidi woman and her daughter as slaves in Mosul. They later chained the five-year-old child outside, where she died of thirst in the summer heat. It should be noted that the crimes committed by Wenisch and her husband were revealed in Europe when she explained to an FBI informant, who was posing as an ISIS supporter, what she had done.

Yezidi women have often said that female ISIS members were among the most brutal.^[1] Wenisch, who also served in the infamous morality police in Mosul and Fallujah, was not a bystander, or a victim, but an active participant in some of the worst crimes seen in modern history.

FYF applauds Germany’s efforts in prosecuting ISIS crimes against the Yezidis, including the earlier trial of ISIS member Omaima Abdi. Today’s ruling, while historic, is still far less than what the Yezidi community hoped for and deserves. The enslavement, sexual violence, torture, and genocide committed by ISIS must be met with appropriate punishment for the most horrific crimes. FYF contends that participation in genocide and the murder of a child warrants more than a ten-year sentence.

The global pursuit of justice for Yezidis is painfully slow. Thousands of Yezidi IDPs languish in camps, searching for missing relatives and struggling to recover from the genocide, while many ISIS members evade justice and return to Europe to live normal lives. The global community needs to show Yezidis it is serious in pursuing justice for the victims of ISIS atrocities.

This statement is also available as a PDF, Click here

^[1] See this FYF report on the role of female ISIS members in the Yezidi Genocide: The Case of Samantha Elhassani aka Um Yusuf