Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
A 21-year-old German woman was charged with crimes against humanity, after she married ISIS terrorist and took part in the civil war in Syria.
Leonora Messing from the district of Sangerhausen in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt left for Syria six years ago and married ISIS terrorist Martin Lemke, alias Nihad Abu Yasir, becoming both his third wife and a supporter of the Islamic State.
The German Federal Prosecutor has now charged Messing with crimes against humanity, as well as being a member of a terrorist organisation, human trafficking and violation of the Weapons Act on Wednesday on 28th July.
Messing was arrested immediately after she landed at the Frankfurt am Main Airport on her return home, after the federal government brought her and her two children back from a prison camp in northern Syria in December 2020.
She was also accompanied by other German women who had joined ISIS and were being held in Kurdish prison camps in northern Syria with their children.
Nevertheless, the 21-year-old woman was released following a decision by the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe that suspended her arrest warrant on 8th January.
However, the Higher Regional Court in the German city of Naumburg and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office have now confirmed charges against Messing, who was only 15 years old when she fled her homeland.
According to the indictment, Leonora and her husband temporarily kept a Yazidi woman as a slave after they bought her for an alleged GBP 647, and sold her together with her two children in 2015.
Leonora is also accused of working for the ISIS secret service after she agreed to research jihadi fighters’ wives and received monthly payments for her activities.
In addition, the accused owned a semi-automatic self-loading Glock pistol which was given to her by ISIS members.
According to the indictment “the accused finally surrendered to the Kurdish units at the end of January 2019, after she had previously moved to the ISIS-ruled Syrian territory due to the extensive loss of the Islamic State’s land.”
The police reported that the investigation is ongoing.
The Higher Regional Court has not set a trial date yet, but reported that Ursula Mertens will be the presiding judge.
