Syrian refugee sentenced to 12 years prison by a German court for ISIS membership and war crimes committed in Syria

STUTTGART, Germany — According to the German Newspaper Süddeutsche, the Regional Supreme Court of Stuttgart sentenced a 32-year-old Syrian refugee to 12 years in prison after he was found guilty of belonging to the Islamic State (ISIS) and committing war crimes in Syria.

The man reportedly fought in the ranks of ISIS in 2014. During his time as a member of ISIS, the man killed a mentally retarded young man and tortured two minors, 16 and 17-year-old brothers. The convicted man also reportedly executed a bound person belonging to another extremists group.

In October, a German state court in Hamburg sentenced a German–Tunisian woman, Omaima Abdi, to three and a half years in prison for her affiliation with the Islamic State (ISIS). Abdi is the widow of German-born rapper “Deso Dog” who had joined ISIS in Syria, according to German News Agency (DPA).

Abdi was convicted of failing to care for her children, weapons offences, and aiding the enslavement of a Yezidi girl.

According to the court, Abdi followed her first husband to Syria in 2015 and settled in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa with their three children. After his death in 2015, she married his friend, German rapper Deso Dog, whose real name was Dennis Cuspert.

According to authorities, Abdi fled Syria in 2016 and returned to Germany on a plane from Turkey.

Syrians and analysts alike expressed dissatisfaction with the short length of the sentence.