Germany Arrests French Woman who Allegedly Committed War Crimes after Joining ISIS

A giant ferris wheel stands on the Christmas market near the Berlin palace in Berlin, Germany November 30, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
A giant ferris wheel stands on the Christmas market near the Berlin palace in Berlin, Germany November 30, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
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Germany Arrests French Woman who Allegedly Committed War Crimes after Joining ISIS

A giant ferris wheel stands on the Christmas market near the Berlin palace in Berlin, Germany November 30, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
A giant ferris wheel stands on the Christmas market near the Berlin palace in Berlin, Germany November 30, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

German authorities said Thursday they had arrested a French woman who allegedly committed war crimes in Syria after joining ISIS.

Germany's federal prosecutor said the woman, who was only identified as Samra N. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested Tuesday in the western city of Trier.
The woman is suspected of having participated as a member of two foreign terrorist organizations as a teenager, the prosecutor's statement said, according to The Associated Press.
She allegedly traveled to Syria in September 2013, where she first joined Jabhat al-Nusra and married one of the group's fighters. In November 2013, the couple joined ISIS.

While in Syria, N. allegedly tried to persuade people living in Germany to also go to Syria to become a member of Jabhat al-Nusra. She also temporarily took in a woman who had been persuaded to leave the country in this way.
The suspect ran the household for her husband and helped him procure military equipment for ISIS, according to the charges.
On two occasions, when her husband was away on combat missions, she stayed in women’s houses that ISIS had occupied after driving out the original residents, which Germany considers a “war crime against property.”
N. returned to Germany at the beginning of 2014, but remained a member of ISIS until at least February 2015, prosecutors said. It was not immediately clear why, as a French citizen, she went to Germany.



Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.