Germany Ruled on the First Conviction of an ISIS Member for the Yazidi Genocide

30-10-2021

Idil Aydinoglu

International Justice and Human Rights,

Global Human Rights Defense.

On November 30, 2021, a Frankfurt court finalized the first criminal proceeding against an ISIS member regarding the Yazidi Genocide and convicted the defendant, Taha al-Jumailly, of the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and human trafficking. [1] According to the 2016 UN report, ISIS aimed to destroy the Yazidi population through various crimes, including killings, sexual slavery, torture, forcible transfer, imposing measures intended to prevent childbirth,  separation of children from their families, and mental trauma. [2] As defined under Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and Article 6 of the Rome Statute, these prohibited acts constitute the crime of genocide if they are committed with the specific intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part. The Court sentenced Jumailly to life imprisonment for committing the crime of genocide after concluding that he chained and left a 5-year-old girl to die of thirst because she was a Yazidi. He is the first ISIs member who is convicted for the atrocities Yazidi people had faced and sets a precedent for future prosecutions. The case is an example of the application of the universal jurisdiction principle, which is a doctrine affording authority to scrutinize crimes violating ius cogens norms in every jurisdiction. 

Notes:

[1] “Yazidi genocide: IS member found guilty in German landmark trial”, 30 November 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59474616

[2] Human Rights Council, “They came to destroy”: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis”, 15 June 2016, A/HRC/32/CR, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoISyria/A_HRC_32_CRP.2_en.pdf