Lina Ishaq

Lina Ishaq
Born	(1972-06-22) June 22, 1972 (age 53) Iraq
Criminal status	Imprisoned
Children	5
Convictions	War crimes, genocide
Criminal penalty	6 years in prison (war crimes) 12 years in prison (genocide)

Lina Ishaq (born June 22, 1972) is a Swedish-Iraqi terrorist convicted of genocide in Syria. ^{[1] [2]}

Biography

Born in Iraq, Ishaq came to Sweden as a child with her family, who settled in Halmstad. She grew up in a Christian family and attended high school at Sannarpsgymnasiet in Halmstad; she played football for Astrio in the Damallsvenskan. ^[3]

In 2013, she was radicalized in Halmstad, and moved with her husband and five children to Islamic State-controlled Raqqa in Syria.

Ishaq fled Syria for Turkey in 2017. She returend to Sweden in 2020. ^[2] In 2022, she was convicted of war crimes for failing to prevent her son Joan from being recruited as a child soldier at the age of 12. He died at age 16 in 2017. ^{[2] [4]}

In January 2024, she was sentenced by the District Court to six years in prison for war crimes and genocide. According to the indictment, Ishaq kept six children and three women as slaves from in her home in Raqqa from 2014 to 2016. ^{[5] [2]}

On 11 November 2025, the Court of Appeal upheld the District Court's verdict. Lina Ishaq was sentenced to 12 years in prison for genocide.

Prosecutor Reena Devgun from the European Union's judicial cooperation agency Eurojust described the verdict against Lina Ishaq in an article in Aftonbladet as "groundbreaking" as it is the first in the world to focus on the forced transfer of children. ^[6]

References

1. "Final Swedish judgment of 12 years imprisonment in first-ever case against genocide through transfer of children". Eurojust. 2025-11-11. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
2. Webster, Eve (2025-02-11). "Swedish woman Lina Ishaq convicted of genocide for IS crimes against Yazidis". BBC. Retrieved 2025-12-01.
3. "Fotbollstjejen från Halmstad dömd för folkmord – vem är IS-kvinnan Lina Ishaq?". Sveriges Television. 11 February 2025.
4. "Swedish woman jailed for war crimes over son becoming child soldier". Reuters. 2022-03-04. Retrieved 2025-11-30.
5. "Sweden convicts mother of war crimes over minor fighting for ISIL". Archived from the original on 2022-05-10. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
6. "Dom mot IS-kvinnan sprids i Europa – "banbrytande"". Aftonbladet. 2025-11-11. Retrieved 2025-11-11.