Baghdad not stepping up, official says as young Ezidi woman, man rescued in Syria

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s office for the rescue of abducted Yezidi (Ezidi) on Thursday announced that two Ezidis had been recovered in Syria, years after they were kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) militants in 2014.

The young Ezidi man was identified as A.S.M, an 18-year-old from the village of Kojo near Sinjar (Shingal), the head of the office, Hussein Qaidi, told Kurdistan 24.

The other rescued Ezidi woman was named Noura, from the village of Dokri.

“Many people were abducted by Da’esh [IS], and we were all experiencing a lot of torture and harassment [at the hands of IS militants],” Noura told Kurdistan 24 as she was standing with her family and giving away sweets to celebrate her release.

Qaidi stated that both of abducted Ezidis were rescued in separate operations in Syria, but he did not offer further details regarding how and where exactly they were rescued.

Kurdistan 24 has learned that they were rescued from the Syrian province of Raqqa.

“Da’esh kidnaped Noura on Aug. 4, 2014,” Ali Khudeda, the uncle of the 19-year-old woman, told Kurdistan 24.

“It was only on Aug. 16, 2018 that I found out she was still alive. I was so happy,” Khudeda continued.

“Noura’s rescue healed our wounds to some extent, but not completely. Our wounds will only be fully mended when all Ezidis are rescued from Da’esh.”

Mayan Khudeda, Noura’s close family member, stated that Noura’s release had come as a celebration to all.

“We are pleased about Noura. We call on everyone to help rescue all the remaining missing Ezidi people.”

Ezidis were subjected to atrocities and mass executions at the hands of the extremist group for years after IS overran Shingal in mid-2014, forcing hundreds of thousands of the ethnoreligious minority to flee their homes. Others were not as lucky and remained stranded in the war zone.

IS is known for having subjected women to sexual slavery, kidnapped children for forced conversion, executed the men, abused, sold, and trafficked girls across areas they controlled in Iraq and Syria.

According to the official, since the Ezidi Rescue Office opened at the end of 2014, they have been able to save nearly 3,340 people who were captured and held by the families of terrorists. IS kidnaped 6,417 Ezidis.

The head of the office of the rescued Yezidi (Ezidi) abductees stated that although almost all parts of Iraq has been liberated from the jihadist group, the office believes the kidnapped and missing Ezidi girls can still be found in the country, namely inside Mosul.

Qaidi mentioned that the administration and security in Mosul were not helping the office search for Ezidis in the city.

He also noted that there are plenty of wives and family members of IS militants jailed in Baghdad, and that he suspects some Ezidis may have been detained as well. 

“We wanted to visit the prison in Baghdad to inspect, see if there are any Ezidis among them, but authorities there have rejected our request,” Qaidi claimed.

The Ezidi official stated that, recently, a high-ranking delegation from the federal government of Iraq visited them to help in the search and rescue of missing Ezidis.

“They had no information on kidnapped Ezidis, and they seemed unable to do anything at all. They were sent to us only to tell the local media that Baghdad is stepping up… The Iraqi government is not helping at all,” Qaidi concluded.

Editing by Nadia Riva

(Additional reporting by Mahir Ilyas)