Facts
In 2015, Hasna Aarab allegedly traveled to Syria from the Netherlands with her four-year-old son and married a Moroccan ISIS fighter. Between 1 May and 1 August 2015, she stayed at her husband’s acquaintance’s house in Raqqa, Syria. A Yazidi woman, Z., allegedly performed domestic work at their home as forced labor.
In November 2022, Hasna Aarab returned from the camps located in the Kurdish autonomous area in northern Syria, along with other 11 women who were also repatriated to the Netherlands.
Procedure
The Yazidi victim, Z., provided testimony to the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD).
Hasna Aarab was arrested after arrival in the Netherlands in November 2022. An initial hearing was held in February 2023.
She was charged with the crime against humanity of slavery, and with membership in a foreign terrorist organization.
The trial took place in October 2024. On 11 December 2024, Hasna Aarab was convicted of one count of the crime against humanity of enslavement as well as of membership in a foreign terrorist organization, promotion of terrorist crimes and child endangerment. She was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.