According to German prosecutors, Wenisch and her husband “purchased” the child and her mother as household “slaves” when they lived in the Islamic State-occupied Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2015. After the child became ill and wet her mattress, Wenisch’s husband chained her outside their home as punishment and let the child die of thirst in the desert heat.
In 2014, the Islamic State terrorist group took over a region in northern Iraq that was home to the small Yazidi religious group, massacring thousands of Yazidi men and enslaving an estimated 7,000 women and children.
According to German prosecutors, Wenisch and her husband “purchased” the child and her mother as household “slaves” when they lived in the Islamic State-occupied Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2015. After the child became ill and wet her mattress, Wenisch’s husband chained her outside their home as punishment and let the child die of thirst in the desert heat. The child’s mother, who was forced to witness her death, was the trial’s main witness, testifying for over 11 days.
The prosecutor had recommended that Wenisch be imprisoned for life. However, the court found that she had only a limited ability to end the enslavement of the woman and her child. Wenisch’s husband, Taha al-Jumailly, is on trial in Frankfurt.
© Copyright LaPresse