2021-09-19

What is the involvement of Belgian jihadists in the genocide that IS carried out against the Jezidi community? Now that the Belgian parliament has acknowledged the genocide, Brenda Stoter Boscolo and Bruno Struys went to Iraqi Kurdistan with that question in mind. They talked to official sources, but above all had hours of interviews with the Yezidis themselves.

IS has executed Yezidi men en masse and captured and enslaved their wives and children. Several women testify about the horror that some Belgians inflicted on them. Boys tell how they were sent to training camps by IS fighters to serve as cannon fodder. Belgians turn out to be involved in that too. Seven years after the start of the genocide, the Yezidis await trial. For most of them, this chapter is not yet closed.

Brenda Stoter Boscolo

Brenda Stoter Boscolo is a Dutch freelance journalist who writes about the Middle East.

Bruno Struys

Bruno Struys is a Belgian journalist.