Swedish prosecutors are charging a returned Islamic State woman with war crimes and violations of international law, accusing her of using her own son as a child soldier in Syria.
The 49-year-old, who returned to Sweden in 2020 after joining the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria in 2013, was arrested in September of last year and has now been charged with aggravated war crimes and aggravated violations of international law in the first case prosecuted in Sweden in connection to child soldiers.
Prosecutor Reena Devgun released a statement on the case, saying, “The investigation supports that her son has been trained and trained to participate in hostilities while living at home, that he has been equipped with military equipment and military weapons, and that he has been used in combat and for propaganda purposes, as well as for other missions that formed part of warfare,” broadcaster SVT reports.
According to the broadcaster, the alleged offences took place between 2013 and 2016 and comes after SVT revealed that the woman had taken pictures of her other children in Syria posing with weapons as well as mutilated bodies.
The woman had initially taken five of her children with her to Syria in 2013 but two of the children, aged 14 and 18, later died in the country. Two other children were removed from the woman’s custody after she returned to Sweden in 2020. The woman has denied the charges levied against her by prosecutors.
Sweden has seen the repatriation of several Islamic State women from camps in Syria over the last few years, including at least six women suspected of having participated in various war crimes.
Prosecutor Reena Devgun has previously commented on the difficulty in prosecuting the returning women due to a lack of prior cases and the fact the crimes took place overseas.
Other returned Islamic State women have also been arrested in connection with war crime allegations, including three women flown back to Sweden last year in October, but all three were later released from custody.
While Sweden has yet to successfully prosecute a returning Islamic State woman, German courts sentenced a woman to ten years in prison last October for allowing an enslaved Yazidi girl to die in captivity.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com