By Anne Losensky
Judgment in one of Berlin’s most spectacular criminal cases: On Thursday, Maryam’s killer brothers were sentenced to life imprisonment!
The court considered it proven that Yousuf and Mahdi H. murdered their 34-year-old sister in July 2021 and transported the body in a trolley across Germany by train. The criminal court followed the request of the public prosecutor’s office with the verdict.
According to the judges, the brothers murdered their sister in July 2021 because the mother of two wanted to lead her life on her own terms. “They denied her this right, this right to life,” said presiding judge Thomas Groß at the verdict.
After 42 days of negotiations and the questioning of 52 witnesses, the court was convinced that the 34-year-old had to die because her life did not correspond to the Afghan family’s moral standards. The brothers were guided by “archaic considerations”.
An overview of the process
THE BROTHERS. Yousuf Sayed (27) and Mahdi Seyed H. (23) from Afghanistan.
THE SISTER. Her older sister Maryam (34) was last seen in Berlin in the morning of July 13, 2021. After fleeing to Germany, she had found the strength to leave her abusive husband. Divorced since 2018, she devotedly took care of her daughter and son as a single parent – who should have it better.
THE SUITCASE. On videos from the Südkreuz train station, her brothers are dragging a heavy, bulky trolley suitcase to the platform in the afternoon of the day. Then they board a train to Munich.
THE CORPSE. On August 3, the brothers are arrested. On August 5, the older man’s Hungarian friend led the Berlin 3rd Homicide Squad to a grove near Holzkirchen (Upper Bavaria). Maryam lies in a fetal position in a dirty hole in the ground, buried next to an illegal dump. Bound, gagged, tied up with duct tape. Kilometers away from the nearest house, 550 kilometers away from Berlin.
THE HORROR. The murder trial begins on March 2, 2022. Things are not looking good for the brothers: everything speaks against them and for their guilt. They are silent. On day 30, the older man takes flight to the front: He suffers from depression. He was all alone, Mahdi stood in front of the door and smoked. He choked the sister in the argument, suddenly she was dead. He then slit her throat to the bone because the corpse did not fit in the suitcase bought that same day. Mahdi wanted to call a doctor, but he forbade him to do it with a knife in his hand. Mahdi only helped with packing and on the train journey to Bavaria.
GOOSEBUMPS MOMENTS IN THE PROCESS.
► Mahdi had measured and weighed her sister at a “game” just a few days earlier. Yousuf looked for a suitcase on the Internet with his mobile phone, keywords: “up to 70 kg” and “Berlin”.
► “Squeezing someone’s throat for a not inconsiderable amount of time has nothing to do with depression.” (Psycho-evaluator on Yousuf’s horror statement)
The brothers are said to have put Maryam’s body in a suitcase and taken the train to Bavaria Photo: BZ
► The well-known Islamic scholar Prof. Christine Schirrmacher (60, University of Bonn) testified as a witness in the process. “Crimes like this don’t happen out of passion, planning takes time to prepare. You make an appointment under a pretext, let yourself be ambushed. The youngest brother is often chosen because of the lesser punishment.” About the horrible rituals involved in murdering a woman: “Frequently knives, also strangling… Sometimes the throat is also slit. Religious ideas play a role here: you sacrifice someone who may already be dead, that makes the sacrifice pleasing to God.”
► 75 autopsy photos flickered large and in color over the walls of the hall during the process. The corpse in the burrow. Her face after removing the layers of tape. The younger brother got sick of it. The disposable glove fingertip with his DNA found unwrapping the body.
► Maryam was forced to marry Saeed Habib H. (48) when she was very young. He only took his son with him to Europe, leaving his wife and daughter to fight in the war. Maryam had to fend for herself with her child and her brother Mahdi.
The half-orphans are now 15 and 11 years old, again living with their father (cook). He refused to testify against the killer brothers in the trial: after all, they were related by marriage.