German teen IS 'jihadi bride' facing imminent execution in Iraq
A German teenager, dubbed the ‘Jihadi bride’, could soon be executed for joining Islamic State (IS), the prime minister of Iraq has warned.
Linda Wenzel, 16, is in a prison in Baghdad awaiting trial to find out if she faces the sentence of death by hanging.
She was found in a basement in Mosul in July during an offensive by Iraqi forces to drive IS from the city.
Video shows the teenage runaway being paraded through the streets of Mosul after she was found in a lair along with 20 other female ISIS supporters who travelled to Iraq from Russia, Turkey, Canada, Libya and Syria.
She fled her home in Pulsnitz, eastern Germany to join IS in Iraq after she exchanged messages with jihadists online.
"You know teenagers under certain laws, they are accountable for their actions, especially if the act is a criminal activity when it amounts to killing innocent people," Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi said.
Under his command, Iraq carried out at least 88 hanging executions last year and many people found guilty of terrorism offences have been sentenced to death since control of Mosul was taken back from IS.
If she was tried and convicted in Germany, Wenzel could face between one and 10 years in prison. Her home country’s foreign ministry had previously said it was trying to bring her home, along with three other German women imprisoned in Iraq.
Iraqi intelligence forces have alleged that the teenager worked with the IS ‘police force’.
Iraqi journalist Amir Musawy, who met Wenzel after her arrest, told The Independent she was ‘exhausted’ and had a leg injury.
‘I do not have the feeling that she understands what she did, and what she might have waiting for her, whether in Iraq or in Germany,’ he said.
‘She just told me that she wants her home back, like a journey that she went on and did not like.
‘It’s like she is still thinking like a child or a young woman and not understanding what is waiting for her.’
He said that she appeared to still be under the influence of jihadists.
The teenager’s arrest was caught on camera and showed her cowering in fear as she was taken into custody.
