ERBIL — A 52-year-old Swedish woman, Lina Laina Ishaq, went on trial in Sweden on Monday, facing charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes for her involvement with the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. 

The accusations relate to her actions against Yazidi women and children during the period between August 2014 and December 2016, when she lived in Raqqa, the de facto capital of IS’s so-called caliphate.

This marks the first time that crimes committed by IS against the Yezidi minority are being prosecuted in Sweden. The trial, expected to last two months, will be largely held behind closed doors at Stockholm District Court.

Ishaq is accused of holding and abusing nine Yezidi captives, including children, at her home in Raqqa, where they were treated as slaves. 

According to prosecutor Reena Devgun, the victims were subjected to “sexual slavery, forced labor, deprivation of liberty, and extrajudicial executions,” as part of IS’s campaign to annihilate the Yezidi ethnic group. 

One of the allegations includes the abuse of a baby, where Ishaq reportedly silenced the infant by covering its mouth.

The charges claim that Ishaq sold some of her captives to IS militants, fully aware that they could face execution or severe sexual abuse. She has denied all accusations.

The Islamic State abducted thousands of Yezidi women and children in 2014 during its assault on the Sinjar region of Iraq. 

The victims were trafficked to Syria, where many women were forced into sexual slavery, and boys were indoctrinated by IS.

Ishaq was arrested in Turkey after fleeing there with her son and two children she had with an IS fighter from Tunisia. 

She was later extradited to Sweden, where she had previously been convicted of taking her 2-year-old son to Syria in 2014. At the time, she claimed she had only planned to visit Turkey but crossed into IS-controlled territory once there.

Her identification was made possible through evidence provided by a U.N. team investigating war crimes in Iraq (UNITAD).