Paris Prosecutors Seek Life Sentence for French Jihadist Accused of Yezidi Genocide

ARK News.. French prosecutors in Paris have requested a life sentence for French jihadist Sabri Assayd, who is being tried in absentia on charges of crimes against humanity, including “genocide against the Yezidi minority in Iraq and Syria” during the mid-2010s.

Prosecutor Sophie Harvard stated that Assayd—also known as “Abu Dujana al-Faransi”—was a “key link” in the network that carried out a genocidal policy against the Yazidis, calling for his conviction on charges of participation and complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity.

Assayd, born in Toulouse in 1984, is accused of involvement in what prosecutors described as a “policy of enslavement” carried out by ISIS. The charges include purchasing Yazidi women in slave markets and subjecting them to sexual slavery between 2014 and 2016.

Despite reports that Assayd was killed in Syria in 2018, prosecutors noted that uncertainty still surrounds his fate, prompting the court to consider him a fugitive and proceed with a trial in absentia. A verdict is expected at a later date.

This case marks the first trial of its kind in France addressing genocide against the Yezidis, while courts in several European countries—including Germany, Sweden, and Belgium—have previously issued similar rulings against members of the extremist group.

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