German Women, 16-Y-O Girl, Held in Iraqi Prison for Joining ISIS May Face Death Penality: Report
BERLIN — Four German women, including a 16-year-old girl, who joined Islamic State in recent years are being held in an Iraqi prison and receiving consular assistance, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Saturday.
It said diplomats had visited the four in a prison at the airport in Baghdad on Thursday and they were doing well given the circumstances. They could face the death penalty in Iraq for belonging to the militant group, the magazine added.
It said Iraqi authorities had given Germany a list with the women's names at the beginning of the week, identifying the teenager only as Linda W. from the small town of Pulsnitz near the eastern city of Dresden.
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Germany's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report.
German prosecutors said on Tuesday they were checking reports that a 16-year-old under investigation for supporting Islamic State was among five women arrested in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces declared victory over Islamic State earlier this month.
Der Spiegel said one of the Germans had Moroccan roots and another seemed to come from Chechnya but had a German passport.
The BfV domestic intelligence agency estimates that 930 people have left Germany in recent years to join Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. About 20 percent of them are women. Minors account for about 5 percent of the total number, of which half are female, it reckons.
(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Helen Popper)
