Sweden convicts woman for having recruited son to fight in Syria
STOCKHOLM (AP) – A 49-year-old woman from Sweden was convicted on Friday for a serious violation of international law and a war crime for not having prevented her 12-year-old son from being recruited as a child soldier on behalf of the Islamic State. group in Syria.
Stockholm District Court said that Lina Ishaq, who has been detained in Sweden since September and her husband, belonged to a sect-like Islamist milieu that advocated armed struggle for sharia law and emigration to live in a fundamentalist society.
The court said that in April 2013, the woman traveled to Syria with her son to go with her husband and an older son. Her husband and two sons later died in Syria.
In its ruling, the court said that Ishaq knew that they were going to Syria and that the boy was recruited there as a child soldier on behalf of IS. “She did not take appropriate action to prevent this, nor did she want to prevent it, (because) his role as a child soldier has been in line with her convictions,” the court said.
The district court held that according to Swedish law, Ishaq, who was the boy’s parent and guardian, had a special obligation to protect him.
Throughout the trial, she denied any wrongdoing and said she was lured to Syria by her husband.