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1h ago

First French National to Face Genocide Trial Over Yazidi Enslavement

A high court’s refusal to hear her appeal clears the way for a special assize trial on alleged 2015 abuses in Syria.

Sonia Mejri est la première revenante française de Syrie à comparaître en France pour génocide sur les Yazidis.
Sonia Mejri, revenante de Syrie, va devenir la première Française à être jugée pour le crime de génocide, après la non-admission du pourvoi de cette femme qui conteste avoir réduit en esclavage une adolescente yazidie au printemps 2015
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Overview

  • Sonia Mejri, 36, will be tried detained on a genocide charge, alongside counts of complicity in crimes against humanity and terrorism offenses.
  • An anti-terror investigating judge ordered in September 2024 that Mejri and ISIS emir Abdelnasser Benyoucef stand trial for the alleged enslavement of a 16-year-old Yazidi in spring 2015.
  • According to the indictment, Benyoucef allegedly acquired the adolescent and subjected her to confinement, repeated rapes, and severe deprivations as part of the ISIS campaign against Yazidis.
  • Prosecutors say Mejri acted as the guarantor of the victim’s confinement, holding the apartment key and carrying a weapon to deter escape, causing serious physical and psychological harm.
  • Benyoucef will be tried in absentia as author of genocide and crimes against humanity, and though presumed dead since 2016 he remains under an arrest warrant, while Mejri’s lawyer asserts her innocence and challenges the case’s strength.