© 2025 ICCT
Last update: 2 May 2025Case No:8 St 9/18; 3 StR 246/22; 3 StR 498/23 - 4th Inst. Verdict - Final
4th Instance:
14 years imprisonment; compensation payment to plaintiff for sufferings related to enslavement and loss of her daughter (amount tbd)
3rd Instance:
14 years imprisonment; compensation payment to plaintiff for sufferings related to enslavement and loss of her daughter (amount tbd)
2nd Instance:
Re-trial of part of the sentencing
1st Instance:
10 years imprisonment; compensation payment to plaintiff for sufferings related to enslavement and loss of her daughter (amount tbd)
Jennifer W., a German national, travelled to Iraq in 2014 and married Taha al-J., an ISIS fighter in 2015. While in Iraq, she was involved in armed patrols, as part of the morality police in the region. Together with her husband, Taha al-J., she also enslaved a Yazidi woman and her 5-year-old daughter, whom they subjected to serious physical and mental abuse. Namely, her husband forced the mother to stand barefoot in a stone courtyard in extremely high temperatures and tied the daughter outside exposing her to direct sunlight. After some time, the child suffered a heat stroke, which resulted in her death. Jennifer W. did not take any action to protect or save the child. Following this incident, ISIS punished Taha al-J., and Jennifer W. fled to Turkey, where she was arrested and extradited to Germany. On 25 October 2021, Jennifer W. was found guilty of crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and membership in a foreign terrorist organisation, resulting in a 10-year prison sentence and order to make a compensation payment to the Yazidi victim. Following the appeal, the Federal Court of Justice on 9 March 2023 ordered a re-assessment of the prison sentence as the Court of first instance falsely found the count of a crime against humanity by enslavement resulting in death to be a less severe case. During the re-trial of the sentence concerning the count of crime against humanity of enslavement resulting in death, a different chamber at the Court of first instance had to assess the individual guilt and corresponding sentence for the defendant and eventually sentenced her to 14 years imprisonment. Jennifer W. appealed the sentence. The Federal Court of Justice rejected her appeal on 7 March 2024, thereby making the sentence and guilty verdict final.
3rd Instance:
1 count of crimes against humanity of enslavement resulting in death; 1 count of crimes against humanity of enslavement; 1 count of aiding and abetting attempted crimes against humanity of murder; 1 count of aiding and abetting attempted war crime of murder
1 count of membership in a terrorist organisation
1 count of aiding and abetting attempted murder by omission
2nd Instance:
Re-trial concerning sentence regarding conviction for 1 count of crimes against humanity of enslavement resulting in death
1 count of membership in a terrorist organisation
1 count of aiding and abetting attempted murder by omission
1st Instance:
1 count of less severe case of crimes against humanity of enslavement resulting in death; 1 count of crimes against humanity of enslavement; 1 count of aiding and abetting attempted crimes against humanity of murder; 1 count of aiding and abetting attempted war crime of murder
1 count of membership in a terrorist organisation
1 count of aiding and abetting attempted murder by omission
Nationality:
Gender:
Case status: 4th Inst. Verdict - Final
Verdict status: Conviction
Affiliated group: ISIS
Travelled to conflict zone: Yes
Special procedure: N/A
Ground of jurisdiction: Active Personality
• No criminal record
• Crime was committed several years ago
• 3 years pre-trial detention during which the defendant was not able to see her daughter growing up
• Largely confessed although relatively late into the trial
• Long duration of proceedings
• Enslavement lasted more than 1.5 years with no end in sight for the victims
• Particular brutality and threat of ISIS
• Testimony of the plaintiff, who had been identified and located by the NGO Yazda
• Expert testimony
• Defendant's Facebook postings
• Defendant's statements
• Testimony of other German female ISIS member
• Online chats of the defendant
• NGO transcribed statements of the plaintiff
• Video recordings of the plaintiff's statements with the NGO
• Testimony of a party to the trial of the defendant's husband
• Forensic report
• Forensic expert testimony
• Report of the German weather service
• Defendant's statements made in front of an undercover agent and recorded by criminal investigators
1st Instance Verdict – On File
2nd Instance Verdict – Full Judgment
3rd Instance Verdict – Press Release
4th Instance Verdict – Press Release
© 2025 ICCT
Last update: 2 May 2025