Dutch court convicts mother of war crimes for letting son become an Islamic State fighter

Her son died while serving in an Islamic State military unit

A district court in The Hague on Friday convicted a 49-year-old Dutch woman of war crimes and sentenced her to seven years in prison for allowing her then 14-year-old son to become a fighter for Islamic State.

The woman, identified only as Ayada K., was convicted of the war crime of aiding and abetting the recruitment of a child soldier by allowing a minor to take up arms for Islamic State, the court said in a press release.

She was also convicted of aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation and endangering her minor children.

K. took her teenage son and daughter from the Netherlands to live in Islamic State-held territory in Syria in 2014. Judges say she then let her son join the Islamic State military police at 14. He died two years later while serving in an Islamic State military unit, according to the verdict.

During the trial K. invoked her right to remain silent. After the fall of Islamic State in 2019 she remained in Syria until she was repatriated in 2024 with her remaining children and arrested on arrival.