BERLIN, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- German prosecutors said on Saturday they are prepared to follow up on claims by a Yazidi woman that she ran into her Islamic State (IS) captor twice in the country, local media reported.
Ashwaq Haji Hami, a 19-year-old refugee from Iraq, said she had encountered her tormentor twice in the southwestern German town of Schwaebisch Gmuend, the first time in 2016 while the other in February this year. For fear of being harmed, she fled back to Iraq with her family later.
"I ran away from Iraq so I would not see that ugly face and forget anything that reminds me of it, but I was shocked to see him in Germany," Hami said, according to German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Hami was kidnapped by IS in 2014 when the terrorist group attacked Kurdistan, Iraq. She was enslaved and abused by an IS member called Abu Humam, whose real name she said was Mohammed Rashid.
"I recognized his face very clearly and whenever I see him I can recognize him ... because of the beatings he gave us," Hami said, according to the Associated Press.
Hami reported the incidents to local German police who took over investigations in March. Authorities said the information she provided was not accurate enough for them to match the name she gave with any registered person.
The case was handed over to federal prosecutors in June, by which time Hami had been back to Iraq. Investigation cannot now go further as the witness is currently unavailable, authorities said.
In 2014, IS committed what the United Nations deemed a "genocide" against the Yazidis in northern Iraq. Several thousand were reportedly killed and kidnapped while many more were displaced.
