Kurdish police arrest man for murder of Yezidi woman at wedding in Germany

Police in the Kurdistan Region announced on Sunday that they had arrested a male accused of involvement in the murder of his Ezidi (Yezidi) cousin during a wedding party in Germany, two years earlier.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Police in the Kurdistan Region announced on Sunday that they had arrested a male accused of involvement in the murder of his Ezidi (Yezidi) cousin during a wedding party in Germany, two years earlier.

Shilan Ghazi, a 22-year-old Ezidi woman was fatally shot during a wedding party in the German city of Hannover on March 13, 2016. After the incident, her father posted a harrowing picture of his daughter lying in a pool of blood on his Facebook account, stating that a 22-year-old nephew killed his daughter for refusing to marry him and remarking that his daughter had become a "victim of a treacherous tradition."

Following the incident, he issued a complaint in an Iraqi court in Baghdad against his nephew, Duhok Police Spokesperson Hemin Sleman told Kurdistan 24.

Sleman mentioned that, since the court issued an arrest warrant shortly afterward, Kurdish law enforcement officers had been searching for the suspect throughout the Kurdistan Region.

On Friday, they caught up with him in Dohuk.

“He found illegal ways to enter the Kurdistan Region and Iraq,” the spokesperson continued.

“We would like to ensure everyone that the province of Duhok and the Kurdistan Region, in general, is no safe haven for any criminals or murderers," he warned. "They will be arrested by police and security forces."

Earlier in June, Duhok police also arrested another 20-year-old Kurdish man named Bashar Ali who had admitted to murdering a teenage girl in Germany before fleeing to the region.

Editing by John J. Catherine

(Additional reporting by Masoud Mohammed)