Politics

France charged Jihadist with genocide crimes against Yezidis

This investigation aimed to address suspicions of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed in Iraq and Syria since 2012 against ethnic and religious minorities.

Kurdistan 24 Digital Media 2024/06/15 12:18

Pictures of Yazidis slain in 2014 by Islamic State militants are found in a small room at the Lalish shrine in Kurdistan Region. (Photo: AP)

World ISIS Crime Justice for Yezidi Kurds Yezidi Genocide Repatriation of ISIS Members France

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The French Anti-Terrorism Prosecution announced on Friday that a French jihadist who returned to her country in August 2021 from Syria is being tried on terrorist charges, including crimes of genocide against the Yezidi minority.

Following an interrogation session on Tuesday, the suspect was charged with complicity in committing genocide and crimes against humanity, according to the Public Prosecution.

Sources familiar with the case revealed that the 35-year-old French woman enslaved a Yezidi child in 2017. However, the accused denies all charges against her.

The Public Prosecution noted that she is "the third woman" among returnees to France to be charged with crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity alongside terrorist charges.

Since 2022, another woman has faced similar charges, with a second returnee, a former wife of an ISIS emir, charged in early May.

In late April, the National Counter-Terrorism Authority informed Agence France-Presse that a preliminary "structural" investigation was initiated in late 2016.

This investigation aimed to address suspicions of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed in Iraq and Syria since 2012 against ethnic and religious minorities.

The Public Prosecution explained, "The goal is to document these crimes and identify the French perpetrators who belong to the Islamic State."