© 2025 ICCT
Last update: 2 May 2025Case No:5-3 StE 1/20-4-1/20; 3 StR 230/22 - 2nd Inst. Verdict – Final
Taha al-J., an Iraqi national, joined in Syria at least March 2015. During his time with ISIS, he bought a Yazidi woman and her five-year old daughter as slaves after they had been captured in 2014 following ISIS’ attack on the Sinjar area. Taha al-J. subjected them to serious physical and mental abuse. Namely, he forced the mother to stand barefoot in a stone courtyard in extremely high temperatures and tied her daughter outside the living room window exposing her to direct sunlight. After some time the defendant untied the child, who had suffered a heat stroke and was either already dead at the time or died shortly after. In May 2019, he was captured in Greece and extradited to Germany. A German court found him guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. On 30 November 2021 he was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to a 50,000 EUR compensation payment to the Yazidi woman who joined the proceedings as plaintiff. A year later, the Federal Court of Justice acquitted him of 2 counts of aiding and abetting the war crime of displacement and 1 count of bodily harm resulting in death, but upheld the sentence. Taha al-J. was the first individual worldwide to be convicted for genocide charges in relation to ISIS genocide against the Yazidis.
1 count of genocide by killing; 2 counts of genocide by causing serious bodily or mental harm; 2 counts of genocide by deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction; 1 count of war crime of murder of a person protected under IHL, 2 counts of war crime of torture; 1 count of crimes against humanity of murder, 1 count of crimes against humanity of enslavement in two cases, 2 counts of crimes against humanity of torture; 2 counts of crimes against humanity of severe deprivation of liberty
1 count of membership in a terrorist organisation
1 count of murder, 1 count of human trafficking for exploitation of work
2nd Instance:
2 counts of genocide by causing severe bodily or mental harm; 1 count of crimes against humanity by enslavement; 1 count of crimes against humanity by torture; 1 count of crimes against humanity by causing severe bodily and mental harm; 1 count of crimes against humanity by severe deprivation of liberty; 1 count of crimes against humanity by torture resulting in death; 1 count of crimes against humanity by causing severe bodily and mental harm resulting in death; 1 count of crimes against humanity by severe deprivation of liberty resulting in death; 1 count of war crime by torture resulting in death
1st Instance:
2 counts of genocide of causing severe bodily or mental harm; 1 count of crimes against humanity of enslavement; 1 count of crimes against humanity of torture; 1 count of crimes against humanity of causing severe bodily and mental harm; 1 count of crimes against humanity of severe deprivation of liberty; 1 count of crimes against humanity of torture resulting in death; 1 count of crimes against humanity of causing severe bodily and mental harm resulting in death; 1 count of crimes against humanity of severe deprivation of liberty resulting in death; 1 count of war crime of torture resulting in death; 2 counts of aiding and abetting war crime of displacement
1 count of bodily harm resulting in death
Nationality:
Gender:
Case status: 2nd Inst. Verdict – Final
Verdict status: Partial Acquittal
Affiliated group: ISIS
Travelled to conflict zone: Resident in conflict zone
Special procedure: N/A
Ground of jurisdiction: Universal Jurisdiction
Indictment – Press Release
1st Instance Verdict – Full Judgment
2nd Instance Verdict – Full Judgment
© 2025 ICCT
Last update: 2 May 2025