Prison sentence for German woman who went to live under Islamic State

A German court on Friday sentenced a 32-year-old German woman to five years in prison for membership of the Islamic State terrorist organisation.

The woman, named only as Sabine S under German legal convention, had converted to Islam and gone to live under Islamic State in Syria and Iraq from the end of 2013 to August 2017 before returning to Germany, the state court sitting in Stuttgart found.

She was arrested in Baden-Baden in mid-2018.

Prosecutors had called for a six-year sentence, while the defence had argued for three years.

Sabine S said during her trial that she had renounced her membership of Islamic State. The charge sheet described how she had married an Islamic State fighter, who was previously unknown to her, shortly after her arrival in Syria.

She then lived with him, running the household. He was subsequently killed in the fighting.

Prosecutors detailed how Sabine S had praised life under the organisation in several blogs, with the aim of recruiting others.

At the start of the trial, she said: "I wanted to live under Islamic law, but not fight."

Before leaving for the Middle East, Sabine S lived with the father of her two children in Berlin, converting to Islam at the age of 22. According to her own version of events, she became radicalised before she left.    (dpa)