Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

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The Week

How ISIS sells women and children

But the trafficking in sex slaves is only one facet of ISIS's violent campaign
By Colum Lynch

In early August, fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria swept into the small Yazidi village of Maturat in Iraq's Sinjar district and took women to the Badush prison in Mosul. Hundreds more women and girls were herded into an ancient citadel in the town of Tal Afar in the northern province of Nineveh. From Tal Afar, a group of 150 unmarried girls and women, mostly from Christian or Yazidi families, were selected and reportedly sent to Syria "either to be given to ISIL fighters as a reward or to be sold as sex slaves," according to a report released on Oct. 2 by the United Nations' human rights office in Iraq.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS and ISIL, captured the world's attention last June by declaring the creation of a caliphate in parts of both Syria and Iraq and embarking on a ruthless military campaign marked by mass executions, beheadings, and ethnic cleansing of ancient Christian, Shiite, and Yazidi communities.

The 26-page report — which documents rights abuses from July 6 through Sept. 10 — constitutes the most detailed U.N. account of crimes committed by ISIS and sheds further light on its mass enslavement of women and girls. Evidence was compiled by a team of U.N. human rights investigators inside Iraq. Most of the interviews with eyewitnesses were conducted in Erbil and Dohuk, where thousands fled the Islamic State's military offensive.

By the end of August, the U.N. documented the abduction of up to 2,500 civilians, mostly women and children, from the northern Iraqi towns and regions of Sinjar, Tal Afar, the Nineveh Plains, and Shirkhan. Once they were in captivity, fighters from ISIS sexually assaulted the teenage boys and girls, witnesses told the United Nations. Those who refused to convert to the groups ran the risk of execution.

"Women and children who refused to convert were being allotted to ISIL fighters or were being trafficked … in markets in Mosul and to Raqqa in Syria," according to the report. "Married women who converted were told by ISIL that their previous marriages were not recognized in Islamic law and that they, as well as unmarried women who converted, would be given to ISIL fighters as wives."

A market for the sale of abducted women was set up in the al-Quds neighborhood of Mosul. "Women and girls are brought with price tags for the buyers to choose and negotiate the sale," according to the report. "The buyers were said to be mostly youth from the local communities. Apparently ISIL was 'selling' these Yezidi women to the youth as a means of inducing them to join their ranks."

"The array of violations and abuses perpetrated by ISIL and associated armed groups is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity," the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, said in a statement accompanying the report's release. Zeid urged the Iraqi government to consider joining the International Criminal Court in order to provide the tribunal's prosecutor with the authority to investigate and prosecute crimes in Iraq by perpetrators on either side of the conflict.

The trafficking in sex slaves is only one facet of ISIS's violent campaign to transform huge stretches of Iraq and Syria into an Islamic caliphate. Forces loyal to the movement's self-styled caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, have committed multiple mass murders of ethnic and religious minorities like the Yazidi, Iraqi Shiites, and even fellow Sunni Muslims who refuse to "repent" and declare their belief in ISIS's harsh view of Islam.

The U.N. report states: "ISIL has directly and systematically targeted Iraq's various diverse ethnic and religious communities, subjecting them to a range of gross human rights abuses, including murder, physical and sexual assault, robbery, wanton destruction of property, destruction of places of religious or cultural significance, forced conversions, denial of access to basic humanitarian services … and [a] systematic policy that aims to suppress, permanently cleanse or expel, or in some instances, destroy those communities within areas of its control."

All told, nearly 8,500 civilians have been killed and more than 15,700 injured in Iraq during the past year, more than 11,000 of those casualties occurred between June and Aug. 31, a period that coincides with the Islamic State's military campaign. As of August, more than 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced.

The U.N. human rights office in Iraq enumerated a long list of offenses by ISIS, including "executions and other targeted killings of civilians, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence perpetrated against women and children, forced recruitment of children, destruction or desecration of places of religious or cultural significance, wanton destruction and looting of property, and denial of fundamental freedoms."

ISIS's campaign bore many of the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing campaigns. On July 17, the group's fighters began marking the homes of Christians in two Mosul neighborhoods with nun, or "n," the first letter of the Arabic word "Nasara," for Nazarenes or Christians, and as property of the Islamic State. The homes of Shiite Muslims were marked with raa, or "r," the first letter of the word "Rafidha," the name many Sunni extremists use to refer to Shiites. A day earlier, according to the report, ISIL distributed leaflets ordering Christians "either to convert or to pay jizyah (toleration/protection tax), to leave or face death."

ISIS has also targeted Iraqi government forces. In what is likely the bloodiest act of the conflict, ISIS fighters are believed to have executed as many as 1,500 soldiers and security forces based at a former U.S. Army base, Camp Speicher, in the northern province of Salahuddin. Mass executions have been reported in several other Iraqi provinces, including Nineveh, Diyala, and Kirkuk. For instance, "Corroborated reports indicate that on 16 July, 42 soldiers captured after clashes between ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] and armed groups were executed in Awenat, south Tikrit in Salah al-Din," according to the U.N. report. "According to reports, the officers were executed after being forced to 'repent' by ISIL."

The report has few good guys. It also cites a pattern of "gross violations or abuses of international human rights law" by Iraq's armed forces and allied militias. Numerous airstrikes carried out by the Iraqi security forces have "resulted in … significant civilian deaths and injuries and destruction of civilian infrastructure," prompting new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to order a freeze on such strikes in civilian areas on Sept. 13.

Government airstrikes around Kirkuk resulted in the deaths of some 17 people, including two women and seven children. On the evening of Aug. 14, two airstrikes in the town of Hawija killed 15 civilians, including four women and eight children.

In the province of Diyala, an Iranian-funded pro-government Shiite militia, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or AAH, has tortured and murdered suspected ISIS fighters and loyalists, destroyed homes, and blown up mosques in Sunni neighborhoods.

On July 31, militants from the group allegedly rounded up 15 men suspected of being members of the Islamic State, executed them, and hung them from lampposts in the city of Baquba. Iraqi forces or allied militias were also suspected of vandalizing the tomb of Iraq's former ruler, Saddam Hussein, and his two sons in the al-Oja village in Salahuddin.

http://theweek.com/article/index/269340 ... gn=twitter

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More than 1000 Yazidi families still on My Sinjar do not have food - water - shelter

Many 1000s of Yazidi refugees will be at risk from the cold and damp as winter sets in

Yazidis need food - real food not just the emergency biscuits

More substantial weatherproof shelter

thin tents will not keep out the heavy winter snows or freezing nights

the tents with their opening on ground level cannot keep the water out

All ages need blankets and warm clothing not just children's clothing

coats - jumpers - socks - shoes - boots - everything

SAVE THE YAZIDIS

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Pira Silat, entrance gate to Lalish in Kurdistan



Yazidi Priest:

"The sun knows no differences between people"

Beautifully said

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Islamic State Militants Filmed Laughing at How

They Will Share Yazidi Female Sex Slaves

A recent video has emerged from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that shows militants belonging to the Islamic State (IS, aka ISIL or ISIS) excited as they discuss that they are on the day when they will sell and buy Yazidi female captives that are treated as sex slaves. Most of those filmed are believed to be Saudi from their accent.

Warning: This video might not be suitable for all ages. It is not for shock but for documenting crimes and human rights violations of ISIL militants in Syria and Iraq.

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Something more cheerful

Kurdish Zoroastrian, Yazidi and Folk dance

"Fire of Anatolia"

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A Kurdish singer sings for Sinjar and the Yazidis

"Ciwan Haco Şengal"

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Ezidi fighter on phone:

"Because of the rain, it has become quieter here. However, it can change every minute, the humanitarian situation is always getting worse. The rain has exacerbated everything. The people have little to eat, no tents and little warm clothing. It's really a disaster. For two days no helicopter was here. And when they come, they bring too little aid we have no way to help the civilians, we are also surrounded by ISIL. We need help from outside."

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EYES OF THE BLIND SYMPHONY for the Yazidis

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Breitbart

A Desperate Race Against Time:

Yezidi-American Women Strive For A Global Rescue of Their People



Two young Yezidi women are heroically negotiating for the survival of their people in Iraq. They are talking to the media, planning to lobby Congress, and tell me that they have interested at least three countries in providing political asylum for the Yezidis—if they can be rescued militarily.

Adoul Keijan and Gulie Khalaf are Yezidi-American cousins. They view themselves as advocates for their people and as front-line soldiers because they can speak English and are safely away from a horrifying war-zone.

As we know, ISIS has conducted a barbaric and brutal march across Iraq. On August 3rd, ISIS began slaughtering all those Yezidis who refused to convert to Islam. They also kidnapped many Yezidi women and kept them or sold them as sex slaves.

For five days in August of this year, 40,000 Yezidis were stranded atop Mount Sinjar without food or water. On August 8th, American forces dropped humanitarian supplies and created a safe passage down the mountain for many thousands of Yezidis.

Adoul Keijan's aunt was among them.

However, Adoul tells me, "a week after being rescued, my aunt called crying and begging for help. She had one gun to protect them from ISIS, but had to sell it in order to get food and water."

In recent weeks, Adoul has not been able to contact anyone in her extended family.

On October 20th, ISIS renewed their assault on the Yezidis, forcing the remaining Yezidis up Mt. Sinjar.

And there they remain—again without food or water and without a second American air-strike in view. I do not understand what President Obama is waiting for.

Adoul Keijan escaped from Iraq when she was nine, together with her parents. She grew up in refugee camps in Syria where Yezidis were routinely persecuted. Her cousin Gulie Khalaf, who lived in the same camp with Adoul, writes, “We were treated as second class citizens both in school and at the camp. Every year the Christians and the Muslims would get free gifts from the government during their major holidays, such as Christmas and Eid. None of our holidays were recognized. In school if we didn't read Qu'ran we would get lower grades and in middle school if we didn't participate in Qu'ran class we would fail.” In the refugee camps, she says, “it was a rough life. There was no running water… Sometimes fights would break out because water was scarce.” Their luck with food was no better: “We would get our bread from the local baker, and many times the bread had bugs in it.”

With her parents, Adoul was granted political asylum in America in 1999 when she was sixteen years old. Luckily, Gulie’s family was also brought to America at the same time.

Since then, Adoul became an American success story. She is now an EMT paramedic and a pilot who owns a company—North American Aerials—which is devoted to humanitarian rescues. People pay to take aerial tours and Adoul and her partner, Daniel Kairys, donate the funds to charity. Adoul says, “We started a Humanitarian Relief Effort campaign on September 1st which goes on until Thanksgiving. Anyone who buys an aerial photography shoot or an airplane ride from us has the option of having all the proceeds go toward this cause.”

Now, three weeks later, about 5,000 women, children, and the elderly remain on Mt. Sinjar, stranded. As of October 20th, more Yezidis are being forced back up the mountain.

According to the United Nations, over 200,000 Yezidis were displaced within 48-hours in August. Many others have been kidnapped, or murdered.

The Yezidi people have roots in common with Hinduism and Zoroastrianism; they believe in reincarnation. The Yezidis may have migrated from India 5,000 years ago. Their native language is Kermanji Kurdish, but Adoul also speaks Badini Kurdish, Arabic, and English. I was brought together with these two women by a Hindu friend and colleague who has been working on their behalf.

Adoul tells me: “Gulie and I have stayed in touch ever since and we both are working very closely together to raise funds and awareness about the situation our people are facing in Northern Iraq.”

Together, they have interested Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, an Indian Guru, in helping them by negotiating political asylum in India for those Yezidis who can be rescued. But, they have not stopped there. Adoul tells me that negotiations are now also under way with Kurds and Israelis for additional sites of political asylum—until a better time.



They are quintessential Americans—grateful to America for having given them political asylum and yet still loyal to their people who are living in a bloody Inferno of hate.

For more information, please visit their website, Yezidis.org, where they post news and organize events to help the humanitarian effort.

Photos courtesy Phyllis Chesler.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014 ... ernational

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The Yazidi fighters in Shingal (HPŞ)

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"They took my daughters and my wife,
killed my family, and destroyed my house.
Why should I live?" cried #Yazidi man

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Amsha is 19-years-old and she has a baby.
She was abducted from Sinjar by ISIL fighters and brought
to Mosul from where she fled with the help of local Shiites

Her husband was shot in front of her on the night of Aug. 3
when they fled after Kurdish fighters protecting them disappeared,
despite promising all would be safe. Then she was sold as a slave.

"One Yazidi woman was given to 10 Muslim ISIL men.
We were sold for 10 or 12 dollars.
Who could accept that behaviour?
Can God accept that? It'

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Euro News

Yazidi women tell of horror of ISIL captivity and slave auctions

Amsha is 19-years-old and she has a baby. She was abducted from Sinjar by ISIL fighters and brought to Mosul from where she fled with the help of local Shiites.

Her husband was shot in front of her on the night of Aug. 3 when they fled after Kurdish fighters protecting them disappeared, despite promising all would be safe. Then she was sold as a slave.

“One Yazidi woman was given to 10 Muslim ISIL men. We were sold for 10 or 12 dollars. Who could accept that behaviour? Can God accept that? It’s a shame to rape a women, but when she is raped by 10 men… what is this? They are animals, they are not humans. Because of them I am afraid all the time,” says Amsha.

Before the auction the women were raped by their captors, who seem to take a particular pleasure in victimising the Yazidi minority, many of whom have been forced from their homes.

“Three days ago I talked to my mother. She had buried her mobile so that no-one could find it. Because the djihadists are searching and if they find it, they will shoot the person in the head. I think they found my sister’s phone, because she has not been calling for 12 days,” Amsha added.

The women say several captives killed themselves rather than be sold, and that if women had children these were separated from their mothers and sent away to ISIL schools in Mosul.

http://www.euronews.com/2014/10/02/yazi ... -auctions/

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CNN
By Ivan Watson

Jana was a 19-year-old in her final year of high school, with dreams of becoming a doctor. Then, ISIS came to her village last August, and her world collapsed.

She described to me in chilling detail, how the jihadis first demanded that members of her Yazidi religious minority convert to Islam. Then they stripped villagers of their jewelry, money and cellphones. They separated the men from the women.

A United Nations report explained what happened next. ISIS "gathered all the males older than 10 years of age at the local school, took them outside the village by pick-up trucks, and shot them."

Among those believed dead were Jana's father and eldest brother.

A different fate lay in store for the women.

Jana described how girls like herself were separated from older women, then bussed to the city of Mosul.

There they were put in a big three-story house with hundreds of other young women. The men of ISIS came periodically, and chose up to three and four girls at a time to take home with them.

"These women have been treated like cattle," explained Nazand Begikhani, an adviser to the Kurdistan Regional Government on gender issues.

"They have been subjected to physical and sexual violence, including systematic rape and sex slavery. They've been exposed in markets in Mosul and in Raqqa, Syria, carrying price tags."

Perhaps more importantly, Begikhani is also a researcher at the UK-based University of Bristol's Gender and Violence Research Center. According to the field research and testimonials of Begikhani's team, ISIS kidnapped more than 2,500 Yazidi women.

Meanwhile Narin Shiekh Shamo, a Yazidi activist based in Iraqi Kurdistan has compiled the names of at least 4,601 Yazidi women currently missing.

In the first month after the mass abductions, Shamo says she was receiving calls and messages from up to 70 different hostages a day. Now, she can't reach a single hostage.

After more than a decade reporting on conflict in the Middle East, I was still ill-prepared to hear about the scale of this kidnapping and modern day enslavement.

Suddenly, the words of a 19-year-old ISIS imprisoned fighter whom I interviewed last weekend in a Kurdish prison in northern Syria made sense.

The young man, horribly disfigured from bullet wounds to his abdomen and arm received during his year of fighting on the frontlines, described how ISIS attracted fresh recruits with the offer of cash and "wives."

ISIS actually justified its enslavement of Yazidis in its own online magazine.

"One should remember that enslaving the families of the kuffar -- the infidels -- and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shariah, or Islamic law," the group announced in the ISIS publication "Dabiq."

The Kurdish authorities say they have rescued around 100 Yazidi women, in part through the payment of ransoms to Arab tribesmen who acted as intermediaries.

Thousands of women remain hostage. And with ISIS successfully defending its territory from a loose coalition of Iraqi military, Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga, Syrian Kurdish militants and US-led airstrikes, it doesn't look like a white knight will charge in to rescue these poor women any time soon.

Begikhani said all of the 100 Yazidi women rescued from ISIS appeared to have been systematically raped, likely by more than one man.

The 19-year-old girl I spoke with here in Iraqi Kurdistan was deeply traumatized, and incapable of showing any joy or humor. Her mother and two brothers are still being held hostage by ISIS.

Asked what she would say if she met the 70-year-old Arab man who took her home and ordered her to convert to Islam at gunpoint, she says: "I wouldn't want to tell him anything. I just want to kill him."

Jana says she has given up her dream of becoming a doctor.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/30/world ... ar_twitter