Kinyat
The in absentia trial of Sabri Essid, a French ISIS foreign fighter, will take place from 16 to 20 March 2026 before the Paris Criminal Court. It will be the first trial in France relating to the genocide committed against the Yazidis. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Kinyat, the Free Yezidi Foundation (FYF), Yazda, and the Ligue des droits de l’Homme (LDH) will participate in the trial as civil parties, alongside three Yazidi survivors and their children.
Yazidi women and girls were separated according to age and marital status before being sold or given to ISIS fighters as sex slaves and/or domestic slaves. They were forcibly converted and compelled to practice Islam. Young boys were enlisted in ISIS forces and indoctrinated by the group. The Islamic State publicly claimed responsibility for the crimes committed against the Yazidis, viewing it as a "religious imperative" to fight and destroy those they considered to be heretics.
Among those responsible for these crimes were a number of European nationals who had joined the ranks of ISIS. The number of foreign fighters present was estimated at more than 25,000 in 2015. The majority of these fighters came from Tunisia, France, Jordan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Australia.
Under what circumstances was the investigation opened and how did it lead to Sabri Essid being sent to trial before the Paris Criminal Court?In order to collect testimonies from Yazidi survivors, FIDH and Kinyat conducted a documentation mission in Iraq in 2017 and published the report “Sexual and gender-based crimes against the Yazidi Community: the role of ISIS foreign fighters”.
Seventeen of the testimonies collected within the framework of this report were shared with the Office of the Prosecutor of the French war crimes unit. With the support of FIDH and Kinyat, several Yazidi women who had identified French nationals among their captors were interviewed by French investigators.
In 2019, based on information provided by FIDH and Kinyat, as well as on the testimonies of Yazidi survivors, French authorities identified Sabri Essid, alias Abou Dojanah al-Faransi, and opened a judicial investigation against him. During the course of the investigation, which lasted five years, two Yazidi survivors joined the case as civil parties. Three other Yazidi survivors were identified as victims of Sabri Essid.
In February 2020, investigating judges issued an arrest warrant for Sabri Essid.
In October 2024, investigative judges sent Sabri Essid to trial before the Paris Criminal Court. He is accused of having committed, between August 2014 and throughout 2016, serious bodily or mental harm constituting genocide, as well as acts of enslavement, imprisonment, torture, rape, persecution and other inhuman acts constituting crimes against humanity, and of complicity in these crimes, against Yazidi women and children in Syria. He is also accused of complicity in these crimes for having participated in the transfer of enslaved women and children in 2015.
This trial will be historic as it will be the first trial in France relating to crimes committed against the Yazidis. Furthermore, Sabri Essid will be the first French national to be tried for the crime of genocide.
Who is Sabri Essid, who will be tried in absentia by the Paris Criminal Court, and what is he accused of?In 2014, he left France again to travel to Syria and join the ranks of ISIS. He was joined there by his wife and their three children, as well as his wife’s son.
Sabri Essid then joined the AMNI, ISIS’s department responsible for counterintelligence and control of civilian populations in territories occupied by ISIS, and became an emir.
Sabri Essid is accused of purchasing and enslaving Yazidi women and children between August 2014 and 2016, depriving them of their liberty, water, food, and medical care, and subjecting them to repeated rape and sexual violence. He is also accused of participating in the transfer of Yazidi slaves after they were purchased by other members of ISIS.
How will the trial take place in France?In accordance with French law, Sabri Essid will be tried in absentia before the Paris Criminal Court, composed of three professional judges, without a jury. The trial will be shorter than a trial in the presence of the accused and will last five days, from March 16 to 20, 2026. As a comparison, trials for international crimes held in France to date, with the accused present, have lasted between 3 to 8 weeks.
During the trial, the civil parties and witnesses will testify before the court.
At the end of the trial, the verdict will be issued on the same day, and if the defendant is found guilty, the Paris Criminal Court will issue a new arrest warrant on the basis of his conviction. If he is arrested, he will have the right to request to be retried by the court.
The trial will take place from March 16 to 20, 2026, at the Paris Court of Appeal (8 Boulevard du Palais, 75001, Paris). The hearings will be held in the Ezratty courtroom.
