German-Ghanaian ISIS member faces war crimes

German prosecutors have added six counts of murder and war crimes to the charges against an imprisoned Islamic State member Harry Sarfo, who attracted global attention after claiming disillusionment and disgust with the terrorist group.

Mr. Sarfo, a German of Ghanaian descent, was convicted last year in a Hamburg court of membership in a terrorist organization after his arrest upon returning to Germany in July 2015 from Syria, where he traveled three months earlier to join the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Mr. Sarfo detailed in those interviews how he claimed to have been recruited, as well as what he described as his harsh training, loss of allegiance and his own escape. Mr. Sarfo also spoke about what he described as the Islamic State’s ambitions for more attacks on civilian targets in Western nations like the November 2015 killings in Paris, which relied on collaborators based in Europe.

But his credibility was undercut in October when The Washington Post published what it described as a leaked video clip from Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra that showed Mr. Sarfo appearing to participate in prisoner killings. In the video, he was seen positioning hostages for execution, and what appears to be him, cocking a pistol and shooting at a body. In his interviews, Mr. Sarfo said he had only witnessed them.

The new accusations against Mr. Sarfo came against a backdrop of increased fear in Europe of attacks orchestrated or inspired by the Islamic State, despite its loss of territory in Syria and Iraq.

Sources: The Washington Post / New York Times