Inside the Twana H.S. and Asia R.A. Trial #24: Evidence of Terror
TRIAL OF TWANA H.S. AND ASIA R.A.
Higher Regional Court – Munich, Germany
Trial Monitoring Summary #24
Hearing Date: February 4 & 5, 2026
CAUTION: Some testimony may include graphic descriptions of torture, rape or other violent acts.
Note that this summary is not a verbatim transcript of the trial; it is merely an unofficial summary of the proceedings.
Throughout this summary, [information located in brackets are notes from our trial monitor] and “information placed in quotes are statements made by the witness, judges or counsel.” The names and identifying information of witnesses have been redacted.
[Note: SJAC provides a summary of the proceedings while redacting certain details to protect witness privacy and to preserve the integrity of the trial.]
SJAC’s 24th trial monitoring report details days 45 and 46 of the trial of Twana H.S. and Asia R.A. in Munich, Germany. On the first trial day of the week, the Court heard a research analyst from the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), W8, as an expert witness, who presented a report of her research unit giving detailed insights into ISIS's various genocidal strategies towards the Yazidi communities in Iraq and Syria. While her report focused on accounts of abuse from various Yazidi survivors, the Court and Defense showed most interest in testing W8’s knowledge on both Yazidi reintegration into their communities and ISIS women’s ambivalent handlings of Yazidi slaves.
On the second trial day of the week, the Court continued to hear W8, in her capacity as a BKA officer who was present for the interview of F34, F32, and F30. She explained the circumstances around those interviews as well as the content of the witness statements. W8 revealed the place of living of almost all these witnesses, even after being told by the Court that they were trying to conceal this information due to safety concerns.
Day 45 – February 4, 2026
On this trial day, the Court heard [redacted name], W8, as an expert witness. W8 is a research analyst at the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), holds diplomas in [redacted information], and has been part of a BKA-investigation project on ISIS and its genocide against the Yazidi people since [redacted time], 2014. The expert witness prepared a Power-Point-Presentation, which was presented in Court and used as the script she read from.
After the Court informed her of her rights and duties as an expert witness, the Presiding Judge prompted W8 to start with her report right away, to which W8 opened with the explanation that her presentation will predominantly focus on the various cities, towns, and villages of importance, the different travel routes and time windows, especially in relation to Yazidi abductions, captivity, and Sabaya trade, the specific places where most Yazidi women, girls, and young boys were held hostage at, and the various technicalities behind the trade logistics that were employed by ISIS. The facts for the report stem from about 100 interviews with Yazidi survivors, mostly women, from all over the world, which W8 partially led herself. Besides those, NGO reports, public information, as well as foreign investigations have been used to compile the BKA’s analysis.
W8 then continued by sketching out the history of ISIS’s systematic attack against Yazidis in August 2014, explained ISIS’s goals in and around Sinjar, and its employed military strategies, and presented the numbers behind the initially killed Yazidis. With great detail, the expert witness then explained the following forced mass conversions, and the separations between the Yazidi men and women, girls and young boys, all of which were brought into separate ISIS camps. From this point on, W8 was able to present exact names, places, purposes, numbers, and related travel routes behind each of the ISIS camps, where also many of the witnesses of this trial were held captive in and got sold off from. Especially a former administrative building in Sinjar with about 1,000 Yazidi women and children, the citadel in Tal Afar, where hundreds of Yazidi men were forced to convert to Islam, the courtyard of a large private mansion in Salagh [name unclear] with 400 women and children, a former police building in Siba Sheikh Khidr with 300 women and children, a former school in Ba’aj with up to 200 women and girls per classroom, and where the sister of P2 [redacted name], F120, committed suicide, another former school in Tal Afar with up to 3,000 women and children, a former prison in Badush, and further ISIS camps in Qasr Al-Mishab [name unclear], Qazal Quyu, Kocho, and in the Al-Khadra neighborhood in Mosul were described in great detail. The most important hub for the Yazidi enslavement and Sabaya trade, however, was the so-called “Galaxy Hall” outside of Mosul, which Yazidi witnesses often described as a “wedding hall”. Regarding all these places, the expert witness painted a precise picture of horrific hygienic, food, and water supply circumstances and repeatedly described how young Yazidis were forced to drink dirty water from toilets, take drugs, and eat spoiled food.
The youngest and prettiest of the girls and boys were taken away or sold off by ISIS men, who continuously took pictures of everyone, first. From the age of nine, some girls, W8 testified, were bought and sold off 15-20 times. Often, “slave markets” were organized like bordels, public auctions with tickets, or online marketplaces. Money was the most common form of payment, but often, ISIS men bought Yazidi slaves in exchange for weapons, cars, or even mobile phone credit. Before Asia R.A. demanded a restroom break, the expert witness further testified that since according to Sharia law, spoils of war needs to be shared to 1/5th with the state, ISIS Emirs bought a portion of Yazidi girls for specific types of “state-bordels”, which predominantly existed for sexual purposes.
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[17-minutes-break]
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After the break, W8 continued with her testimony on the slave trade and gave detailed accounts of the most important marketplaces and the specific ISIS leadership they were under. She described how some of these houses had signs with inscriptions like “sale of Yazidi girls from 9am until 12am” standing in front of them. Similar signs were sometimes found next to highway-like streets. W8 further testified how one Yazidi girl stated to have been raped by five different ISIS men in a “brothel” every morning for weeks, how one twelve-year-old Yazidi girl died in a similar setting after bleeding out from having been raped dozens of times in one day, and how one Yazidi girl was tied up hanging from the ceiling and then beaten with cables and guns by five ISIS men for 30 minutes, which broke parts of her skull. Besides those physical marketplaces, online Yazidi slave trade via WhatsApp and Telegram chats or Facebook groups was also common. There, Yazidi girls were often presented with a detailed profile, accompanied by a picture, usually showing the women and girls with makeup on. Prices ranged from 3,000 to 20,000 USD, according to the expert witness. Although rarer, young Yazidi boys were also sold via those platforms. After W8 presented some screenshots of sale profiles and related chat histories, the Presiding Judge announced a lunch break.
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[67-minutes-break]
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After the break, W8 continued with further abuse experiences that were mentioned to her by Yazidi survivors, for example, gang-rapes in front of the women’s own young children. Many Yazidi women and girls got pregnant from the rapes and although Sharia court cases against their ISIS “owners” were possible, they usually only happened if the violence led to the death of the Sabiya. Other witnesses had told W8 that they were forced to build bombs, throw grenades in combat, or learn how to cut someone’s head off. Furthermore, forced abortions for women, who got pregnant before they were held captive by ISIS, existed, just like hormonal injections, so that the Yazidi girls could mature faster. During all of this, Yazidi women were repeatedly hit by hand or with sticks, cables, chains, and tubes, and often got threatened that the same could happen to their young children. The forced washing and shaving to get raped was just as common as getting handed food with drugs in it, so that ISIS men could then rape their Sabayas, who lost consciousness. According to the witness, such experiences of abuse led to plenty of suicide attempts among the Yazidi women. Furthermore, ISIS deliberately used such sexual violence to exclude the Yazidi women from their own community, which had their own strict cultural practices behind sex and virginity and, for example, did not accept children that were born as a result of ISIS-rape into the community, W8 testified.
Besides their men, ISIS women were often also involved in the violence and abuse of the Yazidi community. Although the expert witness did not give any examples, she testified that there have been plenty of cases where the ISIS women independently punished or even sexually abused the Sabayas of the ISIS household.
Towards the end of W8’s report, the expert witness presented the BKA's numbers in this context: Between 3,000 and 5,000 Yazidis have been killed during the initial offensive of ISIS, while in total, around 10,000 Yazidis died. 6,400 - 7,000 Yazidi women and children were held captive, of which 2,700 remain missing until today. Almost all Yazidi men that have not been young boys during the initial offensive of ISIS, most likely got killed. 47 mass graves have been found until now, of which the largest alone was situated in an 85-meters-wide and 45-meters-deep stone cliff, which was around 25 meters filled with only skeleton remains.
The Presiding Judge then turned to the questioning of the expert witness and asked plenty of specifying questions on the numbers W8 testified about. The expert witness, however, only repeated her previous testimony and could not go beyond her script. When the Court asked how W8 concluded that sexual abuse against the Yazidis was also used to exclude them from their own community, W8 replied that “everything was a coordinated action within ISIS structures, it just makes sense.” She added that some Yazidi women were rejected by their families upon their return, because they had been raped by ISIS men. The children of former Yazidi slaves were especially endangered in Yazidi communities and “had to fear death.” Furthermore, W8 testified in response to a question by the Court that she can “only read a little bit of Arabic but not speak it.”
The expert witness then confirmed a few dates and travel routes that witnesses of this trial had testified on, and further described the weapons that Twana H.S. carried with him as realistic. After this, the psychological expert [redacted name], E1, asked W8 if she had heard of cases when the wives of ISIS men showed solidarity with the Sabayas in the family. To this, W8 responded that she indeed knew of a former ISIS woman from Australia who secretly provided the Sabiya with a phone, gave her better food and helped to organize a trafficker.
The Court then turned to the questioning by the Defense. The Defense of Asia R.A. was first especially interested in the expert witness’s qualifications. W8 testified that she has never been to Iraq or Syria, but had since 2018 interviewed eight to ten Yazidi survivors each year, among them [redacted name], F32, and [redacted name], F34, in [redacted location], and [redacted name], F30, [redacted name], P2, [redacted name], F33, [redacted name], F29, and [redacted name], F35, in [redacted location]. Subsequently, the Defense wanted to know where the information would come from that “ISIS children” of Yazidis would be in danger to get killed by the Yazidi community. In response, W8 testified that “there has been a Yazidi Fatwa against the children.” When the Defense of Asia R.A. asked for a specific source for this, the expert witness did not answer and only replied with “I apologize, I should have not mentioned this.” Followingly, the Defense expressed the suspicion that most of W8’s information could be unsubstantiated and asked for further sources, which the Presiding Judge interrupted and deemed it “unnecessary.” The Court then asked about the existence of honor killings within the Yazidi community, which W8 only knew out of the press. Furthermore, the expert witness testified that she has never heard of cases when ISIS women tried to fight against their husband’s wish for a Sabiya, and that she only knew from this very trial of ISIS women that actively wished for a Sabiya.
Before the witness was dismissed, the Defense of Asia R.A. requested W8 to provide further sources of ISIS women who showed solidarity with the Sabayas of the household. Equally, the Court request that the expert witness should “properly think again” to recount if any other Yazidi survivors mentioned that ISIS women actively wished for them to get bought as Sabayas.
With that, the proceedings were adjourned at 2:37 PM.
The next trial day will be on February 5, 2026, at 9:30 AM.
Day 46 – February 5, 2026
On the second trial day of this week, the Court resumed the questioning of witness, W8, that began on the previous day. The testimony started with a correction from [redacted name], W8, of a part of her testimony from the day before, saying that she joined a trip to [redacted location] and therefore did work abroad. For the interview of [redacted name], F32, W8 was the only officer who joined via stream. She mentioned that the interview was held in [redacted location], where F32 lives. Before the interview, F32 had the opportunity to talk with a psychologist.
W8 was able to join from the moment the interview started, where F32 told the interviewers about her own history. F32 recalled how she was abducted and assigned to an ISIS fighter. She was forced to convert and raped. She was then brought from house to house, where she was raped as well, and given as a gift to a leader of a battalion. After she had been traded against another Yazidi girl, her new owner held another Yazidi women captive as well, and the four tried to escape together. Two of them died in the attempt. She was taken captive in the summer of 2014 and freed on [redacted time]. F32 described Abu Abdallah as small, plump, and said that he did not have a lot of hair. She stated that Asia R.A. had worn an explosives belt and that she either came from Germany or had lived there. According to the witness F32, Asia R.A. said that she did not agree with the Yazidi religion, that the Yazidi are dirty and that they are disbelievers, therefore it is normal to treat them the way ISIS does. F32 recognized the Accused in two pictures shown to her by the interviewers. F32 saw the Accused at the end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016.
When asked about it, W8 corrected herself, saying that there was a personnel change on the third day of the interview. She knew [redacted name], F31, and [redacted name], F33, and mentioned Abu Abdallah on her own as a friend of her captor. The interview was held in English, in her last English test W8 was graded with the English level C1. W8 did not know whether she herself even read the German translation of the English transcript.
The escape attempt of F32 and the three other women is a very well documented event, W8 said in answer to Twana H.S.’s Defense Team. Upon further questioning, W8 speculated that some Yazidi women knew who they were being questioned about while others did not. W8 knew that the pictures were prepared by the relevant department within the BKA, but she did not know whether the pictures were generated by AI.
In response to Asia R.A.’s Defense Team, W8 testified that while she had been working on this case since 2022 and talked to [redacted name], W7, about the case as well, she was not aware that W7 had given any information they spoke about to the witnesses. The Defense also wanted to know how long F32 and W7 were in contact before the interview, but W8 could provide any details. Neither could she confirm W7’s method of investigation. W8 could not say whether F32 had been informed of the alias Abu Abdallah before giving her statement to the police.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office asked W8 why UNITAD was in [redacted location] at that point. W8 remembered that a lot of Yazidi people emigrated to [redacted location], specifically [redacted location]. The Federal Prosecutor's Office took a few moments and then changed the topic, asking how many men F32 was interviewed about to which W8 answered about 40 men. After the conversation had moved on, the Presiding Judge reminded the witness that the place of residence of the witnesses should not be disclosed.
W8 then started the summary of F34’s statement by recalling that they picked up F34 at her home in [redacted location]. A [redacted location] social worker who knew F34 very well was present as well as a German Kurmanji interpreter. F34 reported a similar experience of being captured by ISIS. She was separated from her family, given to an ISIS-member who raped her and then gave her to another man. The wife of the second man who raped her was involved in the sexual assault; she also had to massage the wife. She was tormented by the family. W8 reported that F34 had been burned with spoons, her hand had been stuck into the washing machine, among other things. She met F29 and F33 as well as several other Yazidi victims while in captivity in Mosul. She was then given to [redacted name], F43, but had been injured so seriously by her previous owner that she stayed with the previous owner for another month to be healed once she was given away. F34 described F43 as under 18, light skin with freckles, curly hair, and not tall. F34 then described how the two had lived in Syria after most people had fled. At this time, they lived next to the Accused. Next F34 recounted having been moved to a house made from clay or dirt. There she had met the Accused again, along with F29 and F33 who had stayed at the house as well for a while. Afterward, the house was hit by a grenade, and F34 was brought first to a refugee shelter and then managed to contact F43’s father, with whom she then moved in. She was threatened with death if she revealed that she was a Yazidi woman, but the fact came out regardless. She was then imprisoned and subsequently given to her family.
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[78-minutes-break]
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W8 then described that F34 had pitied P1 during the time they lived as neighbors, as she did not have a mother or a father and was often treated badly. At that time, P1 said she had not been raped by Twana H.S. F34 described the Accused as she had seen them at the time as well as their apartment. She also said that Asia R.A. had been gifted a small gun as a present for the birth of their daughter. F34 stated that the couple had bought P1 to raise their daughter and that Twana H.S. had told F43 that he would sell P1 as soon as he had “done the thing” with her. P1 was being hit a lot, and she was responsible for the household including caring for the child. P1 was not allowed to wash herself or her clothes regularly. While there was an abundance of food in the kitchen of the Accused, P1 was not allowed to eat enough, so she would go hungry every day. Once they had moved to the house of clay, P1 had been brought to F34. P1 told F34 in tears how Twana H.S. had bound her hands, carried her to a room and had done “dirty things” with her. When asked by W8 to elaborate what “dirty things” meant, F34 clarified that she meant “sex things.” F34 had been so shocked she told F43 and asked him to intervene. F43 told her that ISIS fighters can do what they want with Sabayas. F34 did not recognize P2 in pictures that were shown to her. When asked about discrepancies in the statement itself, W8 said that the timeframe did not always make sense and that F34 was not consistent in the language the Abdallah’s spoke with P1. F34 also recounted that Asia R.A. had lamented that P1 was still too young to marry, which W8 clarified was used as a euphemism for sex and rape.
The Defense of Twana H.S. asked W8 whether she could identify and explain the use of the word rape and marriage in the Yazidi culture, to which W8 responded that she did not know this and deferred to their interpreter on these matters. When asked about the amount of contact F34 and P1 had with Twana H.S., W8 reiterated that she could only relay what F34 had said in the interview that she had only had contact with Asia R.A. as contact with men was a sin. Therefore, F34 could not say with certainty how much contact P1 had with Twana H.S. W8 then answered a few questions about the state of Raqqa, repeating that most houses no longer had any windows. F34 had not specified whether she could move freely in the apartment of the Accused, but she did see weapons. F34 had described P1 as 10 years old, small with curly hair and a little fat. The Defense Counsel for Twana H.S. Kämpf asked how that could be, since she claimed that P1 was not eating enough. W8 answered that she could not remember whether that had been asked, but that if it had been asked she could definitely not remember the answer. When asked by Shervin Ameri, Defense Counsel for Asia R.A., why the victims did not use the word “rape” W8 answered that both of the interpreters for Kurmanji into German told them that the women do not use the word “rape.” When asked, W8 explained that neither of them is Yazidi. When asked if she had done her own research on the matter, W8 confirmed. Ameri then told W8 that she should label her own assumptions as such, to which the Federal Prosecutor's Office and two Judges noted that W8 had done so repeatedly.
W8 then testified that [redacted name], F30, had the opportunity to speak with a psychologist before her interview, as recalling the events was particularly hard for her. F30 has a child with the man that enslaved her while she was with ISIS, and she had to leave that child with the father when she fled. F30 was informed that they, the police, were not planning on questioning her about her own story.
The Court then asked W8 if she could speak on the timeline of F34’s and F32’s experiences, but W8 admitted that she had not prepared such questions and was therefore not ready to answer those. The Court asked her to prepare those as they would call her again.
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[20-minutes-break]
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Following a break, W8 was asked by the Federal Prosecutor's Office whether she had gained any insights into the ways ISIS women could influence the way slaves were treated in their households. W8 explained that she had only been able to do so via her laptop, where she only had access to documents for other proceedings that she had already downloaded, and could therefore only gain limited insights. She found numerous cases where ISIS women could influence the ways slaves were treated or if they were held in their household at all. Some ISIS women even went as far as to help free the women that were being held captive. W8 could not reliably say whether women could wish for a slave or not. When asked by Shervin Ameri how she had gained those insights, W8 answered that she had searched the databases she had access to on her laptop and gained some insights from a BILD Exclusive. Defense Counsel Ameri asked W8 if she meant the BILD published by the Achsel Springer Verlag, which W8 confirmed. W8 was subsequently dismissed. After the witness had left the courtroom, Ameri criticized the Court and the LKA for using the BILD as a source.
The proceedings were adjourned at 2:37 PM.
The next trial day will be on February 11, 2026, at 9:30 AM.
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