Dutch court convicts sisters tied to Islamic State; 3.5 and 2.5 year prison terms

The sisters Amina E. and Amal E. were convicted by the District Court of Rotterdam on allegations of preparing terrorist acts, and participating with Islamic State (IS). The younger of the two, 25-year-old Amina E., was ordered to serve three and a half years in prison. Amal E., who is now 38 years of age, was jailed for two and a half years.

The crimes detailed by investigators took place between August 2014 and November 2022. The women traveled to Syria via Turkey in 2014 when Amina was only 16 years old. The sisters are among the group of 12 women who were brought back from a detention camp in Syria at the end of 2022.

They were kept there under very difficult conditions, the court acknowledged. “And that's putting it mildly,” the presiding judge said.

This was one of the reasons the court gave a lower sentence than what the Public Prosecution Service recommended. The prosecutor called for a term of six years and four months for Amina E., and five years and four months for Amal E.

Additionally, ten months of Amina E.'s sentence can be conditionally suspended. The older sister, Amal, faces other conditions, including compliance with guidance and therapy programs after her prison sentence.

During the trial, Amina did not deny that she had lived in an area occupied by IS, and that she was married to two IS fighters. She argued that was not of her own free will. However, the court said this was not a credible defense, partly because there is no evidence supporting her claim she did not want to be there.

In fact, chats and photos show the opposite, the court said. In chats and messages on social media, Amina wrote that she supported the IS ideas and ideology, and she glorified life in the caliphate. "Of course, you were young, you were 16 years old. But that does not alter the criminality of your conduct," the court said.

The sisters followed the verdict via a video link. Amina indicated that she was very upset about the prison sentence she was ordered to serve.