This week, Lina Ishaq, also called the IS woman, became the first person in Sweden to be convicted of crimes against humanity. It was during the IS caliphate that in between 2014 and 2016 she enslaved several Yazidis, six children and three women, in her home in Syria.
– They have lived as slaves and exposed to torture and other abuses. They have not had their freedom, not been allowed to speak their own language. In principle, they have been forced to convert to another religion, said the plaintiff Ghita Hadding Wiberg then.
But before Lina Ishaq became known as the IS woman, and long before she is now sentenced to twelve years in prison, she was a very ordinary Halmstad girl. TV4 News has talked to two people who attended the same school as the IS woman.
– I remember her as very happy, outgoing and funny. I almost think everyone at school knew who she was, says one of the people.
School catalog image on Lina Ishaq
School catalog image on Lina Ishaq
Photo: Private
“One of the stars”
15-year-old Lina Ishaq, who grew up in a Christian family, is described as “incredibly good at Sport”.
– Especially football, she was one of the stars in the local women’s team. I also think she finally played in Damallsvenskan.
Lina’s family owned a popular candy store inside Halmstad. There she used to work. And according to the schoolmate, there is nothing to point out that she had extremist views every now and then.
– Just that she converted was a bit of a shock, she was not a Muslim in high school.
Was told through the newspaper
Another person who attended the same high school as Lina Ishaq describes her as a very ordinary girl.
– My strongest memory is that she was very good at sports. We did not spend time, but we encountered each other in the corridors.
But suddenly Lina disappeared. It was only when the local newspaper began to report on the IS woman that the schoolmate became aware of where she got rid of.
– I hadn’t seen her for a very long time. You were a little surprised, I still have to say that it had gone so far.
Lina Ishaq was sentenced on Tuesday to twelve years in prison for crimes against humanity, genocide and gross war crime. The woman is already serving a six -year prison sentence after she let her son, who later died, become a child soldier in ice. Together with her family, she traveled down to Syria in 2013, when her husband died, she stayed in the country and remarried.
Tuesday 12:38