German ‘Jihadi Bride’ Linda Wenzel Could Face Death Penalty in Iraq

Iraq’s prime minister said this week that a teenage “jihadi bride” who traveled to the country from Germany could face the death penalty for collaborating with the Islamic State (ISIS).

Linda Wenzel, a German 16-year-old whom Iraqi forces found hiding in a Mosul basement after she fled Germany to join ISIS, is now at the mercy of Iraq’s judicial process, according to the Independent.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said, “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.”

Wenzel reportedly spent a year in Iraq with ISIS before she was captured. She could face death by hanging if she is convicted by an Iraqi court, but if she is tried in Germany, she is likely to face a prison term of less than ten years, the Independent reports.

The teenager was 15 when she fled Germany and is currently being held in a Baghdad prison along with other women linked to ISIS who are suspected of carrying out attacks, officials told the outlet.

However, Wenzel did receive a ray of hope from the Iraqi prime minister, who said in the AP interview that while Iraq has repatriated very few of the foreigners who traveled to Iraq to fight, “it is not in [their] interest to keep families and children inside [Iraq] when their countries are prepared to take them.”

In July, Wenzel told local outlets that she regretted what she had done and just wanted to return to Germany.

“I just want to get away from here,” she reportedly said. “I want to get away from the war, from the many weapons, from the noise.”

Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics and U.N. reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.