German widow of IS rapper 'Deso Dogg' convicted on terror charges

Hamburg-born Omaima A. was also found guilty of failing to take care of her children, weapons violations and involvement in the enslavement of a Yazidi girl.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab Staff

03 October, 2020

Omaima A. was sentenced to three years in prison [Getty/ Archive]

The widow of an Islamic State group member killed in an airstrike in Syria was sentenced to three years in prison by a German court on Friday.

The 36-year-old Hamburg-born woman, who is referred to in German media reports as Omaima A., was convicted of membership of a terrorist organisation. She was also found guilty of failing to take care of her children, weapons violations and involvement in the enslavement of a Yazidi girl.

Omaima travelled to Syria with her husband in 2015, where they lived in the IS group's Syrian capital of Raqqa with their three children.

When her husband was killed in the same year, she married IS recruit Denis Cuspert, a German former rapper who performed under the stage name of Deso Dogg.

Cuspert used his skills and knowledge of music to record anthems for the militant group's recruitment videos targeted at Westerners.

Cuspert had pledged an oath of loyalty to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and was a chief recruiter of German fighters.

US officials have said the former rapper had made threats against former US President Barack Obama and US and German citizens, and had also encouraged Western Muslims to carry out IS-inspired attacks.

Cuspert, who the Pentagon initially claimed had been killed in a 2015 airstrike, was designated a “global terrorist” by the United States. The US later said he had been killed in an airstrike in 2018, by which time Omaima had already returned to Europe via Turkey.

Read also: US repatriates, charges last American IS suspects captured in Syria

Omaima is the latest IS recruit to be prosecuted by Germany, which has been pursuing cases against men and women who returned home after joining IS and other extremist groups in the Middle East.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay connected