A German court has convicted an Iraqi couple of enslaving two Yazidi girls in Iraq, adding membership in the Islamic State group to their list of poor life choices. The Munich Higher Regional Court handed Twana H.S. a life sentence for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and severe sexual abuse of children. His wife, Asia R. A., got a juvenile sentence of nine and a half years, presumably because she was under 21 when she decided to help enslave children.

The couple was arrested in Bavaria in 2024, having apparently thought Germany was a safe place to settle after their stint with IS. Twana H.S., a hairdresser in Munich, had originally come to Germany as an asylum seeker in the early 2000s, was denied asylum but allowed to stay as a parent of a German child. After becoming radicalized at a Munich mosque, he returned to Iraq in 2015 to join the Islamic State, because apparently hairdressing wasn't fulfilling enough.

Prosecutors said Twana H.S. bought a five-year-old Yazidi girl as a slave at a bazaar in Mosul in autumn 2015, at his wife's request. They later bought a twelve-year-old girl in October 2017. Twana H.S. repeatedly raped both children, while Asia R. A. allegedly put makeup on one girl and prepared the room for him. The children were forced to do household work, forbidden from practicing their religion, and beaten with solid objects. Asia R. A. even scalded the younger girl's hand with hot water. The second girl is still missing.

During the trial, Asia R. A. apologized, saying "I'm sorry" - a phrase that seems insufficient when you've helped enslave and abuse children. The trial was held under universal jurisdiction, because Germany decided that some crimes are so heinous they can't be ignored just because they happened abroad. The Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking minority, were systematically persecuted by IS after 2014, with thousands killed and women and children enslaved and raped. Germany recognizes these acts as genocide, which seems like a good start.