UK acknowledges genocide was committed against Yazidis by Islamic State

FILE PHOTO: Remains of people from the Yazidi minority, who were killed in Islamic State attacks in 2014, after they were exhumed from a mass grave, in Mosul, Iraq June 20, 2023. REUTERS/Khalid Al-Mousily/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Tuesday formally acknowledged that acts of genocide were committed against minority Yazidis by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq in 2014, ahead of the nine-year anniversary of the crimes.

The acknowledgement comes after a German court in 2021 jailed a former IS militant for life for involvement in genocide and crimes against humanity against Yazidis in Iraq and Syria. German lawmakers have also recognised that genocide crimes were committed by IS militants in Iraq.