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Entrance to the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main

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Boris Roessler / picture alliance/dpa

Almost four years after returning from Syria, a woman has been sentenced to two years in prison on probation for membership of the self-declared "Islamic State" (IS) in Frankfurt. Laura H. had promoted the terrorist organization from within, said the presiding judge at the pronouncement of the verdict before the Higher Regional Court.

The verdict is also a violation of the duty of care because the now 33-year-old had taken her young sons to Syria and exposed them to the dangers of the civil war. As a condition of probation, H., who comes from Central Hesse, has to work 300 hours for community service, and a probation officer will also take care of her.

The woman, who grew up in middle-class circumstances, had already been interested in Islam as a teenager. Soon she was dressed in long robes and a headscarf. Shortly after graduating from high school, she married a Muslim and lived strictly according to the rules of her new religion, and her sons were born in 2012 and 2013.

In 2016, she and her children were smuggled into Syria via Turkey using forged papers, where her husband was an IS fighter. According to the verdict, she immediately integrated herself into the terrorist organization. ISIS paid her husband, gave money for her sons and the family's apartment. She herself sold homemade sweets at markets according to the specifications of ISIS.

Richter praised »reflected and remorseful confession«

As the bombing raids became more frequent, the family fled. Later, her husband was killed in an air raid in front of the children. "She grossly violated her duties as a mother," the judge said. On her escape, she lived with her children at times in holes in the ground and in stable-like buildings, the five of them fled on a motorcycle and on foot through the desert.

The woman searched in vain for smugglers to take her abroad. She and her children were finally brought to Germany from a refugee camp in November 2019 as part of a repatriation campaign organised by the Federal Foreign Office.

The court acknowledged her "reflected and remorseful confession," as the judge said. Today, she is about to complete her studies and lives in stable conditions. The woman's lawyer said the verdict would be accepted. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland did not make a statement about the possible filing of an appeal.

atb/dpa