Yazidi women joining case against French firm over IS crimes

PARIS – Amal Clooney and two other lawyers say a group of Yazidi women victimized by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria have applied to join a criminal case against French cement company Lafarge.

In June, the multinational firm was handed preliminary charges in France that included financing a terrorist enterprise and complicity in crimes against humanity. Lafarge has acknowledged funneling money to Syrian armed organizations — allegedly including IS — to guarantee safe passage for employees and to supply its Syrian plant.

In a statement Friday, Clooney said the Yazidi women were the victims of “forced displacement, executions, kidnappings, and … sexual enslavement.”

She said the case is a chance to hold perpetrators to account.

Lafarge has said the company as a whole was not responsible for wrongdoing.