Sweden charges a woman with war crimes for allegedly torturing Yazidi women and children in Syria

Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Swedish authorities have charged a 52-year-old woman associated with the Islamic State group with genocide, crimes against humanity and serious war crimes against Yazidi women and children in Syria. It’s the first such case on trial in the Scandinavian country. Lina Laina Ishaq, who is a Swedish citizen, allegedly committed the crimes from August 2014 to December 2016, in Raqqa, the former de facto capital of the self-proclaimed IS caliphate. Prosecutors said on Thursday the crimes took place under IS rule. In 2014, IS militants stormed Yazidi towns and villages in Iraq’s Sinjar region and abducted women and children. Women were forced into sexual slavery, and boys were taken to be indoctrinated in jihadi ideology.