Former wife of ISIS emir on trial in France accused of ‘genocide’

Sonia M., the ex-wife of one of the founders of the ISIS’ foreign operations cell, is suspected of enslaving a Yazidi girl and accused of genocide.

According to AFP, citing a source close to the case, an investigating judge ruled that Sonia M, a former wife of an ISIS emir who ‘returned’ from Syria, should be tried for genocide and crimes against humanity.

The 35-year-old woman, born in the south of France, is suspected of enslaving a Yazidi girl in Syria in the spring of 2015, when she lived with her ex-husband Abdelnasser Benyoucef, who is considered one of the founders of ISIS' foreign operations cell. Benyoucef also faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Although he is presumed dead, an arrest warrant has been issued for him.

According to AFP, the indictment calls for the former couple to be tried in a specially created criminal court for slavery, imprisonment, torture, rape or complicity in rape, persecution of Yazidis and inhumane acts.

The woman, who was imprisoned after returning from Syria, had testified in trials in which she stood trial for terrorism offences.

In particular, the investigations against her ex-husband Benyoucef are based on the testimony of a Yazidi woman who was 16 when she was bought by Abdelnasser Benyoucef and is now 25.

The Yazidi woman states that she was detained in Syria for more than a month in the spring of 2015 and that she was unable to drink, eat or shower without Sonia M.'s permission. She also accuses Sonia M. of violence against her and of knowing that her husband raped her. The judge also ordered Sonia M. to stand trial for aiding and abetting rape as a crime against humanity.