Hasna A. denies that she kept Yazidi women as slaves in Syria

Hasna A. denied in court on Monday that she enslaved two Yazidi women during her time in Syria. It was the first day of the 33-year-old Hengelo woman's criminal trial, the first time a case for crimes committed against the Yazidi people has been tried in the Netherlands.

The Public Prosecution Service suspects A. of having travelled to Syria in 2015 to join terrorist organisation ISIS, and thus also putting her 4-year-old son in a vulnerable position. He has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, and having a psychiatric disorder. He was unable to attend school in Syria.

"I wanted to build a new life in the caliphate," the woman stated in the courtroom near Schiphol Airport on Monday. "I wanted to leave the Netherlands and was looking for peace." According to her psychologist and psychiatrist, she radicalized very quickly, with little knowledge of Islam. In Syria, she ended up in a women's home. She married an ISIS militant there, and had three more children before she divorced him.

In recent years, several women connected to ISIS have been convicted in the Netherlands for their support of the jihadist organization. But A.'s case differs from previous trials, because she is also on trial for enslaving people. She is alleged to have used two Yazidi women as slaves in the Syrian ISIS-held capital of Raqqa between May 2015 and December 2015, and from April to August 2016. The prosecutor accused A. of forcing the women do cleaning work for many hours a day, and also forcing them take care of her son.

The court is referring to the victims by the anonymized names Z. and S. The victim known as Z. attended the first day of the trial from behind a screen, so that she was only visible to the judges. The court believes in can guarantee her anonymity in this way, and considers her to be an important witness in addition to being a victim.

Z. stated that she had to cook and clean for the suspect. A. denied that she gave Z. orders, and put her to work. After her marriage, her husband is said to have placed A. in a friend's home, where the Yazidi woman was already doing housework. A. said she knew that Z. was being held there against her will. "But I lived my own life, withdrawn in my own room. I made my own bed and cleaned my own room."

A. was picked up from a prison camp in Syria in November 2022. The criminal trial will continue on Wednesday with victim statements from both Z. and S. In the afternoon, the prosecution will present its argument in the case, a recommendation whether the suspect should be convicted or acquitted, and any possible sentence being sought against the suspect.