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Widow of German rapper turned IS fighter arrested in Hamburg

AFP
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Widow of German rapper turned IS fighter arrested in Hamburg
The late rapper Denis Cuspert, aka Deso Dogg, in Berlin in 2015. Photo: DPA

German prosecutors said Monday they have arrested a German-Tunisian woman, the widow of a German rapper turned Islamic State fighter, over her alleged membership of the extremist group.

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The woman, named only as Omaima A., was arrested in Hamburg last week and
also stands accused of having raised her children in the ideology of the
jihadist group.

Omaima A. had married the rapper Denis Cuspert -- who went by the stage
name Deso Dogg -- after her first husband was killed in an air raid in Kobane,
according to prosecutors.

READ ALSO: Berlin rapper turned Isis fighter killed in Syria (for third time)

Cuspert, killed last year in an airstrike in Syria, was one of the most notorious Western fighters for IS, having appeared in several propaganda videos including one that apparently showed him with a man's severed head

Omaima A. had travelled to Syria in January 2015 with her three underaged children, to join her first husband and their father, Nadar H., in Syria.

She lived under IS rules, raising her children following the group's  doctrines, and receiving monthly financial help from the militant outfit, prosecutors said.

She subsequently wed Cuspert, but left him and returned to Germany pregnant
with their child, as well as her three other children, in 2016.

According to German media, Omaima A. quietly slipped back into German society after her return to Europe, working as an event manager and interpreter.

But a Lebanese journalist broke her story in April, sparking outrage in Germany over why the alleged IS member had not faced prosecution back in her  home country.

Germany has put on trial several returning IS militants, and in April also took its first female returnee to court.

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