Sabri E. – Sinjar Massacre

Type of liability
Personne physique

Alleged perpetrator(s)
Sabri E.

Nationality of alleged perpetrator(s)
French

Legal classification of crime(s)
Genocide
Crimes against humanity

Source of the complaint
Public Prosecutor's Office

Ongoing proceedings
oui

Regime
4 - 113 CP

Summary of facts

In August 2014, Islamic State (IS) fighters invaded Mount Sinjar, a stronghold of the Yazidi community. Between 70,000 and 80,000 Yazidis took refuge in the mountains, where they were besieged for several days; more than 1,700 people died of starvation, dehydration and untreated injuries, 93% of them children. This attack marked the beginning of a genocidal campaign characterized by mass killings, forced conversions, sexual violence and the enslavement of women and children, systematically orchestrated and claimed by the Islamic State. Sabri E allegedly took part in this attack.

Sabri E. is a French national, half-brother of Mohamed Merah. After killing three soldiers and three Jewish children and a Jewish teacher in Toulouse in March 2012, he joined the Islamic State in Syria in early 2014. He became a member of the Amniyat, the IS branch responsible in particular for internal security and intelligence. He allegedly committed serious attacks on physical or mental integrity, as well as acts of enslavement, imprisonment, torture, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts constituting […] against Yazidi women and children between August 2014 and some time in 2016. Sabri E. is presumed dead in Syria, but there is no official proof of his death.

Amnesty International France recalls that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law.

Legal proceedings

In 2016: the prosecutor of the specialized unit opens a preliminary investigation into acts of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” committed by IS against the Yazidi community in Iraq and Syria. 
In 2018-2019: FIDH, representing Yazidi victims, enables them to testify before the specialized unit. 
October 25, 2019: a judicial investigation is opened against Sabri E. for “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”. 
In February 2020: an international arrest warrant is issued against Sabri E. for “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”. 
October 2, 2024: the PNAT requests a trial of Sabri E for “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” and issues a new international arrest warrant. 
October 8, 2024: the investigating judges of the Crimes Against Humanity Unit of the Paris Judicial Court issue an indictment order committing Sabri E. for trial before the Paris Assize Court for “genocide”, “crimes against humanity” and complicity in these crimes, explaining that: “The physical acts that Sabri Essid committed were fully consistent with his adherence to the genocidal policy of the Islamic State, which legitimized the purchase and resale of Yazidi women and children, their confinement, their reduction to servile status and the numerous rapes committed against them”. Without proof of his death, the French courts have jurisdiction to try him in absentia. 
In November 2024: the Public Prosecutor’s Office issues submissions charging Sabri E. with “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”, with the underlying offenses of enslavement, imprisonment, torture, persecution and other inhumane acts. 
From March 16 to 20, 2026: Sabri E. will be tried in absentia before the Paris Assize Court for “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”. Three Yazidi survivors and their children will join the trial as civil parties, alongside FIDH, Kinyat, FYF, Yazda and the LDH.