Isis’ unique judgment in Sweden today – inciting a child to fight is a war crime?

The Stockholm District Court today announces its verdict in a historic trial accusing a woman linked to Isis of using her son as a child soldier in Syria.

This is the first time a war crime case has been brought in Sweden against a person belonging to Isis. This is also the first war crimes indictment involving child soldiers.

– This thing is very important in principle. If he is sentenced, we will know what it takes, a former prosecutor, a lawyer Johanna Björklund said On TV4 (you switch to another service) on the closing date of the proceedings.

The prosecutor is demanding an eight-year prison sentence for the 49-year-old woman, while the defense is dismissing the charge. The woman denies her guilt.

A legal expert estimates that a conviction could have a wider societal significance in countries where belonging to a terrorist organization is not a crime.

– It could facilitate the acceptance of women returning home. People would know they could be punished. I think most Swedes want that, Professor of International Law Mark Klamberg Stockholm University tells remotely.

She finds it particularly interesting to weigh in court what the responsibility of parents is in these situations.

The prosecutor has tried in court to prove that the woman traveled to Syria voluntarily and that as a parent she was responsible for taking her child there and what the child did there.

The defense lawyer has tried to show that the woman was cheated in Syria and has not been able to influence the situation of her own or her child there.

According to the woman, the couple sought their way around the world, became interested in Islam through the man’s acquaintances, and converted to the Islamic faith.

Coming soon woman (moving to another service)began to hide his face in niqab, stayed at home with children, and met mainly other Muslims. The man gave sermons locally in the mosque and maintained an Islamist website.

According to friends, the woman’s perceptions of Islam match those of Isis and she sympathizes with jihad, or holy war.

– He knew what he was doing. He wanted to live in Islam. He believed it was the most important thing he could do for himself and his children, one of the woman’s friends said. Swedish radio (switch to another service).

– It was self-evident that men and boys had to participate in jihad. It was the best thing that can be done – the best a believer can do, another friend told Swedish radio.

The woman is one of the oldest and longest-lived Swedish Isis women in Syria.

Seven years later, the woman returned to Sweden with two children. Her husband and three sons had died in the Syrian war.

Two of the daughters had married in Syria and remained there. At least one was a minor when he married.

The woman was sent to the al-Hol prison camp when the Islamist caliphate was defeated. No details of his return to Sweden have been reported in the media, but the Swedish Foreign Ministry assisted several women and children who fled the camps to Iraq or Turkey to return in the fall of 2020.

After returning to Sweden, the older child behaved hostilely and had broken the furniture in his room, for example. The younger one behaved generally happily, but feared contact and persons in military uniforms.

The Administrative Court found that the woman’s abilities as a parent were deficient. After all, he had taken his children to a country that was at war. The court also considered it possible that the woman still shared Isis’s worldview and planned to return to Syria.

The war crime charge relates to a woman’s second eldest son who died in battles at the age of 15.

“The pre-trial investigation supports the fact that the boy was trained to take part in hostilities while living at home, was given military equipment and weapons and was used in battles,” said the chamberlain. Reena Devgun in a press release (you switch to another service) in the beginning of January.

The prosecutor points out that the use of children under the age of 15 in armed conflict is strictly prohibited. The ban applies not only to the use of children in combat, but also to other acts of war.

The boy was used in battles as a minor from August 2013.

The charge is based on the idea of ​​parental responsibility for their children. According to the prosecutor, the woman took her child to the war zone and was responsible as a parent for what happened to her there.

Prosecutor’s evidence includes images of the boy handling weapons, appearing in military clothing, and posing with mutilated bodies. There is also evidence from the Isis administration of documents about the family and the boy’s involvement in the fighting.

In addition, the evidence includes chat messages from a woman and her eldest son to relatives in Sweden. According to the prosecutor, they show that even after the death of her husband, she made an active choice to stay in Syria and help build an Islamist state.

The woman said in the messages, among other things, that she was sorry but also happy about the death of her husband and son.

In court, the woman downplayed her own role in the decision to move to Syria and her role there. She said she had traveled to Turkey at her husband’s request and claimed she had been driven across the border into Syria unknowingly.

The woman denied inciting her sons as child soldiers. He said he was not even allowed to live with his two eldest sons. These lived in the men’s house.

– I wanted to go home. I applied for a divorce many times. My husband refused. I sat in the village in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t know where I was and I couldn’t do anything, he says Dagens Nyheter (switch to another service).

The man died a few months after the woman had moved to Syria.

The woman remained with her children in the Isis area after her husband’s death. The eldest son became the head of the family, and this, according to the woman, did not allow him to return to Sweden.

“She used to say to me, ‘Mom, you’re in Syria now. You don’t know how to act here, but I know.’
Aftonbladet (switch to another service) said the woman said in court.

The woman claimed she was also unable to influence the behavior of her second eldest son. The woman is accused of using this boy as a child soldier.

– What can be done here in Sweden if a teenager doesn’t want to listen to his parents? What can be done then? Can they be handcuffed? Can they be tied up? Can not.

According to the woman, he did not understand his sons involved in the fighting, even though he saw them handling guns.

– He has always been clear that he does not want his son to take part in the fighting. That’s his attitude, defense attorney Mikael Westerlund said For Expressen (switch to another service).

According to Swedish security police, a total of about 300 people left Sweden for Syria or Iraq to join Isis. About half have returned to Sweden. Last fall, there were 30–40 pre-examinations related to them, he says Swedish radio (switch to another service).

“Every conviction gives police and prosecutors the reassurance that they can pursue similar cases and investigate where borders go,” says Mark Klamberg, a professor of international law.

Sweden has not criminalized belonging to a terrorist organization. According to Professor Klamberg, there are also positive aspects to it.

– I think it is good that the police and the prosecutor are forced to investigate what these people have really done so that they can be convicted.

This story is based on the following articles: Dagens Nyheter: Rättegången mot IS-kvinnan inleds i dag (switch to another service), IS-kvinnans son i chatt: “Mamma vill inte åka, de vill dö här” (go to another service), Åtalade kvinnan i IS-målet: “Hade inte så mycket att säga till om” (go to another service), Åtalade IS-kvinnan: Förstod inte att min son Stred för IS (switching to another service), Aftonbladet: IS-kvinnan inför rätta – misstänks gjort sonen till barnsoldat (go to another service), IS quintessential på alla andra (switch to another service), Kvinnan gråter då avhuggna huvuden visas (you are moving to another service), Express: IS-kvinnans egna ord om sönens död (switch to another service), Halmstadsposten: Photos from Halmstad to barn to IS in Syria (switch to another service), Sveriges Television: Unika bilder visar svenska familjens liv med IS i Syrien (switch to another service), Sveriges radio: IS-kvinna åtalas (switch to another service), Säpo: IS-kvinnan från Halmstad var inflytelserik (switch to another service)