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Nobel Winner Demands Justice after UN Finds 'Genocide' against Yazidis

Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, pictured here in August 2019, is herself a victim of Islamic State violence - AFP
Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, pictured here in August 2019, is herself a victim of Islamic State violence - AFP
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Nobel Winner Demands Justice after UN Finds 'Genocide' against Yazidis

Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, pictured here in August 2019, is herself a victim of Islamic State violence - AFP
Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, pictured here in August 2019, is herself a victim of Islamic State violence - AFP

Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad pleaded with the United Nations Security Council on Monday to refer the ISIS group to the International Criminal Court after UN investigators concluded the extremists committed "genocide" against Yazidis in Iraq.

"International tribunals are needed to address the universal magnitude of ISIS crimes against humanity," said Murad, using another acronym for the group.

"We asked you to refer this genocide to the ICC or establish a court by treaty. It is time for the international community to do more. It is time to act," added the 2018 Nobel winner, herself a victim of ISIS violence.

Murad referred to the latest report from a group of UN investigators, headed by Karim Asad Ahmad Khan and created in 2017 to probe crimes committed by ISIS.

"The evidence collected by Mr Khan and the unit team affirmed the conclusion reached by the United Nations in 2016. ISIS crimes against Yazidis constitutes genocide," said Murad, AFP reported.

"The Council must now prioritize and accelerate concrete action to address the findings," she added.

The report released Monday completed probes into attacks against the Yazidi community in the Sinjar region and the mass killing of unarmed cadets and military personnel at Tikrit Air Academy in June 2014.

Khan told a press conference presenting the findings there was "clear and convincing evidence that genocide was committed by ISIS against the Yazidi as a religious group."

"Evidence collected by the Team had also confirmed ISIS was responsible for acts of extermination, murder, rape, torture, enslavement, persecution and other war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against the Yazidis," he said.

The report found the "repeated deployment of chemical weapons by ISIS against civilian populations in Iraq between 2014 and 2016, as well as the testing of biological agents on prisoners."

Khan is due to take up his new role as the ICC's chief prosecutor in June. In the past he has called for trials along the lines of that of Nazi leaders at Nuremberg.

ISIS, defeated in Iraq at the end of 2017, left behind more than 200 mass graves that could contain up to 12,000 bodies, according to the UN.

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Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general has said, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024.

Netanyahu has described probes against Urich and other aides as politically motivated and on Monday said that Urich had not harmed state security. Urich's attorneys said the charges were baseless and that their client's innocence would be proven beyond doubt, reported Reuters.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement late on Sunday that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024.

The hostages' deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostages' families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.

Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free if a ceasefire had been reached, according to a defense official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.

Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.

In his statement on Monday, Netanyahu said Baharav-Miara's announcement was "appalling" and that its timing raised serious questions.

Netanyahu's government has for months been seeking the dismissal of Baharav-Miara. The attorney general, appointed by the previous government, has sparred with Netanyahu's cabinet over the legality of some of its policies.