Trial commencement - Trial for IS sympathizer
A 33-year-old woman named Zuhal A. is on trial in Frankfurt for her connection to a foreign terrorist group and for allegedly neglecting her parental responsibilities towards two of her children. This trial in front of the State Protection Senate of the Higher Regional Court (OLG) started on Wednesday and is scheduled for eight follow-up dates.
The prosecutors claim that in 2011, Zuhal A. traveled to Pakistan with her ex-husband, Patrick N., their daughter born in 2009, and their son born in 2011. It's accused that Patrick N. joined the "Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan" as a fighter there. After he was killed by a drone strike in 2012, she had a second Islamic marriage.
Her new husband and her kids traveled with her from Pakistan to Afghanistan in 2014, and then from there to Syria via Iran and Turkey. The prosecution states that she "willfully accepted the risk of exposing her children to significant danger by taking them to a war zone."
She worked within the IS in a shelter, known as the "Widows' Office," where widows of deceased IS fighters were accommodated, cared for, and assisted. They were provided for, for instance like being an interpreter.
She was detained by the Kurdish People's Protection Units in 2019 and held in a POW camp alongside her children. In November 2022, she was extradited to Germany and was arrested the moment she landed at Ramstein. In January 2023, the arrest warrant was suspended with certain stipulations, resulting in the end of her pre-trial detention.
