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The Teenage Girl Who Ran Away to Join ISIS Could Face the Death Penalty

Iraq's prime minister said that young ISIS recruits like 16-year-old German schoolgirl Linda Wenzel "are accountable for their actions".

"I just want to get away from here," 16-year-old German schoolgirl Linda Wenzel told broadcasters NDR and WDR, and Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper shortly after she was captured by Iraqi government forces.

Dragged from the basement of an ISIS safe house in the northern city of Mosul, disturbing footage showed Wenzel screaming as onlookers cheered. The teenager—who was only 15 when she ran away from her home near Dresden after being groomed by an ISIS recruiter online—may now face the death penalty if convicted under Iraq's anti-terrorism law.

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Iraq's prime minister Haider al-Abadi told the Associated Press that the issue was in the hands of the Iraqi judiciary, but that Wenzel's age should not be an extenuating factor in sentencing.

"There's the female teenager," he said, referring to Wenzel. "I'm not sure about the age. It's a question of acting according to the law. But we don't have a problem with children and teenagers, it depends what they have been doing… Teenagers under certain laws, they are accountable for their actions especially if the act is a criminal activity when it amounts to killing innocent people."

Read more: 'I Was Showered in Blood': What Happened When ISIS Came to Our Camp

Iraq has said it will try all foreign fighters under its own laws, although European governments may try to extradite their citizens to face charges at home.

"I do not have the feeling that she understands what she did, and what she might have waiting for her, whether in Iraq or in Germany," says Iraqi journalist Amir Musawy, who spoke to Wenzel after her arrest. "She just told me that she wants her home back, like a journey that she went on and did not like. It's like she is still thinking like a child or a young woman and not understanding what is waiting for her."

Anti-extremism expert Adam Deen of the Quilliam Foundation told Broadly in July that it would be best if Wenzel were brought to Germany to face charges. "If she'd engaged in any combat, she'd have to face a jury and be tried for it," Deen said. "I do believe she should be extradited back to Germany, because if we're going to have any chance of rehabilitating her, your best chance is to take her out of that environment."

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Earlier this month, Baghdad's central criminal court sentenced a 28-year-old Russian jihadist to death by hanging. All ISIS fighters face the death penalty under the country's anti-terrorism law. If convicted and executed in Iraq, Al-Monitor reports, the bodies of foreign nationals like Wenzel could be returned home to Germany.

Broadly has reached out to the German foreign ministry for clarification on whether it will seek to extradite Wenzel, but they did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.