Brussels Court Convicts Belgian ISIS Fighter of Genocide against Yezidis in Landmark Trial
The Kurdish Yezidis, practicing an ancient pre-Islamic faith, were targeted by ISIS beginning in August 2014. The United Nations has classified ISIS’s campaign of mass killings, sexual violence, and forced disappearances as genocide.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – A Brussels court on Thursday found Belgian jihadist Sammy Djedou — presumed killed in a 2016 airstrike in Syria — guilty of genocide against the Yezidi minority, marking Belgium’s first-ever conviction related to mass atrocities committed against the group.
Djedou, a former ISIS fighter, was reported by the Pentagon to have died in Raqqa in 2016. However, with no formal confirmation of his death, Belgian prosecutors proceeded with the case in absentia. The court convicted him of genocide for his role in ISIS’s campaign, which began in 2014, to eradicate the Yezidi community in Iraq and Syria.
He was also found guilty of crimes against humanity for the rape and sexual enslavement of Yezidi women. Two Yezidi survivors testified during the proceedings, recounting the abuses they suffered.
Olivia Venet, a lawyer representing the Yezidi plaintiffs, described the ruling as “historic,” noting that Belgium — which contributed the highest number of ISIS foreign fighters per capita in Europe — had a particular responsibility to pursue justice. Several other European countries have already prosecuted individuals accused of participating in the genocide.
In February, a Swedish court sentenced a 52-year-old woman to 12 years in prison for enslaving Yezidi women and children in Syria.
The Kurdish Yezidis, practicing an ancient pre-Islamic faith, were targeted by ISIS beginning in August 2014. The United Nations has classified ISIS’s campaign of mass killings, sexual violence, and forced disappearances as genocide. Thousands of Yezidi women and girls were raped, abducted, or sold into slavery.
Born in Brussels in 1989 to a Belgian mother and Ivorian father, Djedou converted to Islam at age 15 and travelled to Syria in 2012 to join ISIS. Investigators believe he later became a senior member of the group’s external operations unit, responsible for plotting attacks in Europe.
In 2021, he was sentenced in Belgium to 13 years in prison for leading a terrorist organization. He was also implicated in the 2022 trial of support networks behind the November 2015 Paris attacks, in which he was convicted but did not receive additional jail time.
The verdict on Thursday adds another layer of accountability for crimes committed against the Yezidis, even as thousands of survivors continue to seek justice and answers regarding missing family members.
