Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said that 16-year-old suspected 'Jihadi bride' Linda Wenzel could face the death penalty for her involvement with Isis, and that her fate will now be decided by the Iraqi judicial process.
After running away from her home in Pulsnitz, Germany to join Isis extremists she had spoken to online, she is believed to have now spent around a year in Iraq and was found hiding in a basement in Mosul by Iraqi forces in July. Iraqi security forces have said that Wenzel worked for Isis' 'morals police', responsible for enforcing strict dress codes on women in the area.
Wenzel is now being held in a prison in Baghdad's airport and is awaiting trial, after which she may face death by hanging.
Speaking about Wenzel's case, the Prime Minister said in an interview with the Associated Press: 'You know teenagers under certain laws, they are accountable for their actions especially if the act is a criminal activity when it amounts to killing innocent people.'
Last year, at least 88 people were executed by hanging in Iraq, many of which were killed for terror offences. If tried in Germany, Wenzel could face between one and ten years' imprisonment. Germany's Foreign Ministry have said they are attempting to bring her back to the country, along with three other German women currently being held in Iraq, although it is not known if this will happen and there is currently no extradition treaty between Iraq and Germany.
The Daily Mail reports that Wenzel travelled to Turkey then was smuggled into Syria last year after being groomed by a Chechen Isis fighter online, who she then married. He was reportedly killed in the fighting for Mosul. She left Germany after telling her mother she was going to stay with a friend, but in reality boarded a flight to Istanbul. Wenzel's capture was filmed and shows her screaming and crying, jostled by laughing men. When she was found, it is reported that she had with her a malnourished baby boy, though it has not been confirmed that the baby is hers.
Her father Reiner Wenzel, who has had no personal contact with his daughter since she left Germany, has said 'I want so much that my Linda comes home again healthy. I will always be there for her.' After hearing the Iraqi Prime Minister's words, he added 'I fear for her. The authorities absolutely have to bring her to Germany so that she can get a fair trial.'
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.