IS woman in Sweden suspected of genocide against Yazidis: prosecutors

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (AFP) - Swedish prosecutors on Thursday said they had asked a Stockholm court to remand in custody a 51-year-old woman suspected of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Yazidis in Syria.

The woman, who has been active in the Islamic State group since around 2000, was sentenced by a Swedish court to six years in prison in 2022 for making it possible for her 12-year-old son to be recruited as a child soldier for IS, Swedish Radio reported.

She is now suspected of crimes against the Yazidis in 2014-2016 in Raqqa, then the capital of IS in Syria.

"The investigation concerns events in Raqqa, Syria from August 2014 to December 2016," prosecutor Reena Devgun said in a statement from the Prosecution Authority.

She provided no other details of the alleged crimes.

In her 2022 conviction, the woman was also found guilty of aggravated war crimes and aggravated crimes against international law, Swedish Radio said.

Sweden's principle of universal jurisdiction allows it to try a case regardless of where the offences took place.