German Girl Found in Mosul Could Face Death Sentence

A teenage German girl who ran away after converting to Islam and was found by Iraqi troops in Mosul says she wants to go home, a German newspaper and broadcaster reported Monday. "I just want to go back home to my family," says 16-year-old Linda Wenzel. "I want to get away from the war, away from all the weapons, away from the noise." German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcaster ARD say their reporter interviewed the girl in Baghdad after she was found earlier this month as Iraqi forces liberated the northern city from ISIS. Linda ran away from her home in the small eastern German town of Pulsnitz last summer, shortly after converting to Islam, reports the AP.

She had been in touch with ISIS members and was married to one of their fighters after arriving in the group's territory. Her husband died shortly after the marriage, the German media reports. The girl said she had been hiding in a basement in Mosul when Iraqi soldiers captured her. She said she is "doing fine" despite a bullet wound in her left leg that she said "is from a helicopter attack." The teenager is currently in a military hospital ward in Baghdad, according to the report. It's not clear if she can return to Germany or if she will be tried in Iraq for membership in ISIS. In Iraq, Linda could theoretically face the death sentence, according to the country's counter-terrorism law. However, even if she is sentenced to death in Iraq, she would not be executed before the age of 22. (More ISIS stories.)