France accuses ex-wife of IS official of crimes against humanity: report

France accuses ex-wife of IS official of crimes against humanity: report

PARIS, April 28, 2024 (BSS/AFP) – France has charged ex-wife in top case
Islamic State official with crimes against humanity on suspicion of slavery
a Yazidi teenage girl in Syria, French media report.

A woman identified as Sonia M., the former wife of the head of the jihadist group
of external operations Abdelnasser Benyoucef, was indicted on March 14, Le
Parisien said on Saturday.

The Yazidi woman, who was 16 when forced into slavery by Benyoucef,
accused Sonia M. of raping her twice and of knowing that her husband was raping
her, the report said.

The woman, now 25, said she was held in Syria for more than a month in 2015.
where she was not allowed to eat, drink or shower without Sonia M.’s
permission.

Sonia M. denied the allegations against her in a March 14 interview with
French investigators said “only one rape” had been committed by her former
husband.

The teenager “freely left her room, ate what she wanted, went to the toilet
when it was necessary,” she said in her interview, seen by AFP.

Sonia M.’s lawyer Nabil Boudi called the charges ‘opportunistic’
allegations,” saying prosecutors were trying to “make her accountable
for the most serious crimes, because the courts have failed to arrest them
the real perpetrators”.

According to a close source, an arrest warrant has been issued for Benyoucef
to the research.

France launched an investigation into genocide crimes in 2016
humanity and war crimes committed against ethnic and religious minorities
Iraq and Syria since 2012.

The investigation has focused on the crimes suffered by members of the Yazidi group
According to both Christian communities and members of the Sheitat tribe
The French anti-terrorist unit PNAT.

“The aim is to document these crimes and identify the French perpetrators
belong to the Islamic State organization,” PNAT told AFP.