France to try ISIS woman for enslaving Yazidi teenager in Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A woman associated with the Islamic State group (ISIS) will face trial in France for charges of “genocide” related to the alleged enslavement of a Yazidi teenager in Syria, a source told AFP on Tuesday.
According to the investigation, Sonia Mejri, 35, originally from southern France, is accused of helping her husband, who was a senior member of ISIS, in the enslavement and rape of the teenager in the spring of 2015, when ISIS controlled parts of Syria and Iraq.
The document ordering the trial said Mejri faces charges of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” for enslaving, imprisoning, torturing, and enabling the raping of the girl.
The young Yazidi woman said that when she was 16, she was held captive for over a month. During this time, she was not allowed to eat, drink, or shower without Mejri’s permission.
She claimed that Mejri was violent towards her on two occasions and was aware that her husband was raping her.
Mejri’s husband, Abdelnasser Benyoucef, helped establish an ISIS branch focused on carrying out attacks outside of Iraq and Syria.
He was sentenced in absentia for a failed attack in France in 2015, and there is an arrest warrant out for him. However, he is believed to have been killed in an airstrike in 2016.