German national Jennifer W., who worked for the Daesh* Morality Police in Iraq, become the first woman to be prosecuted for joining the terrorists; it marked the first time the country’s investigators were able to provide enough evidence to file criminal charges. According to the spokeswoman of Germany’s Public Prosecutor General, cited by the DPA, they were able obtain an arrest warrant for the alleged Daesh accomplice which met the requirements of the Federal Supreme Court. The 27-year-old suspect has been in detention since June 30, the official statement of the Federal Court reads.
According to the announcement, Jennifer W. was arrested in Bavaria on strong suspicion that she was a member of the foreign terrorist organization Daesh; her apartment in Lower Saxony was searched.
The investigators state that Jennifer W. left her homeland, Germany, at the end of August 2014 to join Daesh terrorists. She got to Iraq via Turkey and Syria, where she served the command structures of the Daesh militia by joining the so-called morality police.
READ MORE: Germany's New Dilemma: Daesh Fighters' 'Brainwashed' Wives and Kids Coming Home
The suspect patrolled the parks and public places of the Iraqi cities Fallujah and Mosul with the "moral police" to ensure that women dressed and behaved in accordance with the radical Islamic rules established by the terrorists. Jennifer W. was paid between $70 and $100 a month by Daesh.
In late January 2016, she went to Ankara, Turkey, to visit the German Embassy and apply for new identity papers there. After leaving the mission, she was arrested by the Turkish security services and deported home. While the investigation, which eventually led to her arrest, continued, she resided in Germany, and planned to return to Daesh-occupied territory.
As Daesh possessions in Syria and Iraq have been reduced to a few outposts, the European nations, which have "supplied" some 5,000 to 6,000 jihadists altogether, are trying to address how to deal with those who eventually return home.
German Citizens in the Ranks of Daesh
Reports say that 950 German nationals had left for Iraq and Syria to join jihadist groups in recent years and 300 of them have since returned to Germany. About two-thirds of them are German citizens of foreign origin. Berlin is particularly alarmed that their children and wives were radicalized before returning to Europe.
According to the head of Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, some children and adolescents have been brainwashed and can sometimes be dangerous. The potential threat comes also from the women who have lived in the territories controlled by terrorists over the last few years, as “they very often have radical views and share the Daesh ideology.”
According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, about 1,800 German residents are classified as potential Islamic terrorists.
*Daesh (IS/ISIS/ISIl/Islamic State) and Taliban — terrorist groups banned in Russia
