Germany puts Syrian woman on trial over ISIL marriages

A 30-year-old German-Syrian woman faces up to 10 years in prison for allegedly arranging marriages for ISIL.

Germany Celle
The defendant was identified as Lorin I due to Germany's privacy law [File: Julian Stratenschulte/DPA/AFP]

Germany has put a 30-year-old German-Syrian woman on trial for allegedly arranging marriages for the ISIL (ISIS) group.

The defendant, identified as Lorin I due to Germany’s privacy law, on Friday admitted to the court in Celle, northern Germany, that she had travelled to Syria with her husband in 2014.

She said she regretted the trip and sought to distance herself from the armed group.

Her lawyer argued that there was no evidence to support the charge that her client had recruited women from Germany to marry ISIL fighters, adding that a rumoured “sister network” had not existed.

The woman faces charges of membership of a “terrorist organisation” and violating Germany’s war weapons control act, because she allegedly owned two assault rifles and a hand grenade while in Syria.

Prosecutors allege that her goal in travelling to Syria was to support ISIL and that she belonged to a network of women that sought to bring other women from Germany to the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate.

The prosecution read out WhatsApp messages on the first day of the trial, which allegedly show the woman encouraging others to join her and praising life under ISIL.

She is also said to have praised those who died for the group as martyrs. The woman faces up to 10 years in prison.

Source: News Agencies