Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Islamic institutions and contexts Other Islamic authority or family context Fallujah, Iraq · 2022

Taha A.-J.: final life sentence for genocide and enslavement of two Yazidi captives

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

ISIS member participating in the organization's campaign against Yazidis, enslaver exercising coercive control over two captives

Organization

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

Spiritual nexus

The final appellate decision found that ISIS sought to destroy the Yazidi religion, forcibly converted Yazidi men, enslaved Yazidi women and girls and used religious re-education as part of that campaign. Taha A.-J.'s enslavement and abuse of two Yazidi captives was found to form part of the organized destruction of the protected religious group.

  • Prophecy or divine command
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2021-11-30 · trial judgment and sentence

    Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The court convicted Taha A.-J. of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and related offenses and imposed life imprisonment.

  2. 2022-11-30 · appeal decision

    Federal Court of Justice of Germany, 3 StR 230/22. The court modified the formulation of the judgment, rejected the remainder of the appeal and left the genocide conviction and life sentence in force.

Appellate history

  1. Date in cited record · undefined

    undefined

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • enslavement
  • forced religious observance and re-education
  • physical abuse and confinement
  • participation in a religiously targeted genocidal campaign

Primary record

Sources

appellate court opinion final conviction and appellate posture Bundesgerichtshof, decision of Nov. 30, 2022, 3 StR 230/22.

The official appellate decision gives the final offense formulation, factual findings about ISIS's destruction of the Yazidi religion, forced conversion, enslavement and religious re-education, and the disposition of the appeal.

official appellate court release final disposition summary Bundesgerichtshof, Press Release No. 11/2023, 'Federal Court of Justice confirms conviction for genocide through severe abuse of two Yazidi women' (Jan. 17, 2023).

The court's official release confirms the largely rejected appeal, life sentence and genocide, crimes-against-humanity and war-crimes judgment without publishing survivor identities.

intergovernmental case record trial judgment summary UNODC SHERLOC, Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main judgment of Nov. 30, 2021, 5-3 StE 1/20-4-1/20.

The intergovernmental case record summarizes the first-instance conviction, sentence, enslaved-captive facts and trafficking and genocide nexus.

Related record

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