France indicts Daesh official’s ex-wife for crimes
FRANCE-According to French media, France has accused the ex-wife of a high-ranking Daesh official of crimes against humanity after learning that she may have forced a young Yazidi girl into slavery in Syria. Le Parisien reported on Saturday that Sonia M., the ex-wife of Abdelnasser Benyoucef, the leader of external operations for the terrorist organization, was indicted on March 14.
Allegations and evidence
According to the investigation, the Yazidi lady, who was 16 when Benyoucef forced her into slavery, said that Sonia M. had raped her twice and knew that her husband was also abusing her. The 25-year-old lady said that she was detained in Syria for almost a month in 2015 and that Sonia M. had to give her permission before she could eat, drink, or take a shower. In an interview with French investigators on March 14, Sonia M. refuted the accusations made against her, stating that her ex spouse had only committed “one rape.”
In an interview, the adolescent stated that she “left her room freely, ate what she wanted, went to the toilet when she needed to. “Opportunistic accusations,” according to Sonia M.’s attorney Nabil Boudi, who also said that the prosecution was trying “to make her responsible for the most serious crimes, because the courts have not managed to apprehend the real perpetrators.” Benyoucef has an arrest warrant out for him, a person familiar with the inquiry has confirmed. 2016 saw the start of a French inquiry into war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against racial and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria since 2012.
Legal implications
The PNAT anti-terror section in France claims that the investigation has concentrated on crimes committed by Yazidi, Christian, and Sheitat tribal members. “The goal is to record these offenses and identify the French offenders who are affiliated with the Islamic State group,” PNAT stated. Sonia M., 34, is the ex-wife of Abdelnasser Benyoucef, a high ranking ISIS officer. According to Le Parisien, she was accused of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” by a Parisian judge on March 14.
This French woman, who is currently the focus of the Criminal Code’s most severe penalties, is charged with contributing to the Yazidi community’s martyrdom a non-Muslim Kurdophone religious minority that Daesh has been ruthlessly persecuting. The court believes she may have held a Yazidi child captive in her Raqqa residence. Benyoucef took in the Yazidi woman when she was sixteen years old. According to the report, she claimed to have information that her husband was also raping her and accused Sonia M. of rape. The Yazidi lady said that during her stay in Syria, she was forbidden from eating, drinking, or taking a shower without first telling Sonia M.
International response
In 2014, ISIS ravaged huge portions of both Syria and Iraq, establishing a so-called “caliphate” after a blatant onslaught that saw the organization seize control of many Iraqi cities, including Mosul, the country’s second-largest city in the north. In both nations, it was deemed to have lost territory in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The jihadists perpetrated horrific crimes, including genocide, sexual enslavement, and killings against non-Muslims, particularly the Yazidi ethnoreligious community, during their bloody rule. Shiite Muslims and Christians were also targets.
Impact on counterterrorism efforts
In 2014, when ISIS captured Shingal (Sinjar), the center of the Yazidi population, more than 6,000 people were taken hostage. There are still almost 2,700 unaccounted for cases, and not much has been done to console the rescued. A couple from Iraq was arrested earlier in April by Germany on suspicion of being ISIS militants and of enslaving and sexually assaulting two young Yazidi girls.
According to a press release from Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, the suspects, who are only known as Twana H.S. and Asia R.A., were married under Islamic law and were taken into custody in Bavaria on Tuesday “on suspicion of genocide, crimes against humanity, as well as membership in the foreign terrorist organization Islamic State.”
Call to action: Boycott Pairs Olympics 2024
Here the boycott is going to be very necessary on the basis of human rights violations in France. Concerns regarding discrimination, the low level of accessibility in public services and facilities, the denial of legal capacity and unsupported decision-making, the denial of liberty due to a disability, the large number of disabled children attending segregated schools, and obstacles to accessing justice were raised by the UN Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
It also denounced cruel and inhumane treatment practices, such as forced psychiatric therapy, solitary incarceration, isolation, and the use of chemical and physical restrictions, particularly on minors, as well as sexual assault, violence, and humiliation in residential and mental health facilities.
