French Mayor Faces Death Threats for Hosting Yazidi Refugee Families

Septfonds is one of the municipalities that welcome Yazidi families upon their arrival in France. Indeed, on August 8, 31 Yazidi women and their children had landed in Toulouse as part of a reception program, which is in line with the commitment made by Emmanuel Macron to Nadia Murad, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is a matter of welcoming 100 Yazidi families in France, victims of crimes committed by the Islamic State.

Among the mayors who are involved in this program, Jacques Tabarly. The first citizen of Septfonds has indeed received death threats from an Internet user. Commenting on a local press article published on social networks about the reception of refugees, he threatens: "I propose to go to the Town Hall of Septfonds today during the welcome demonstration and to throw them out... Then why not burn the Mayor in the process?".

Subsequently, the Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation which has not yet made it possible to identify the author of the comment because he had just barely erased it.

Jacques Tabarly, Mayor of the village of 2,240 inhabitants for 19 years, told AFP that he had filed a complaint. He expressed his "determination to go all the way" with his commitment to welcoming these families because no threat will shake him.

He believes that these people who are suffering atrocities in their country must be welcomed.

According to the UN, IS had committed a potential genocide against the Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking minority adhering to an esoteric monotheistic religion.

Since December 2018, 75 Yazidi families have been welcomed in France, the same source details.