His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, stressed the need to work to consolidate the principles of tolerance and coexistence, and to reject extremism and contempt for people because of differences in religion, sect or race.
This came in a post by His Highness on the social networking site “X” (formerly Twitter) on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of the terrorist organization “ISIS” crime against the Yazidis and others in Sinjar, Iraq, on August 3, 2014.
His Highness said: “The ninth anniversary of the heinous crime committed by the terrorist organization ISIS against the Yazidis and others in Sinjar, Iraq, on August 3, 2014, is a painful occasion that reminds the whole world of the importance of working to consolidate the principles of tolerance and coexistence, and the rejection of extremism and contempt for man because of the difference in religion, sect or race.” ».
In August 2014, the terrorist organization “ISIS” invaded Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq, where the majority of the Yazidi minority lived, who were killed and persecuted by the organization during its control of the region between 2014 and 2017.
After the rise of the terrorist organization in 2014, Iraq declared victory over it in 2017, before losing its last stronghold in Syria in 2019.
Even today, bodies are being exhumed from mass graves in Sinjar, while thousands are still missing, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Nine years ago, the Yazidis in Sinjar and its outskirts awoke to the sounds of the shouts of the criminals of the terrorist organization “ISIS”, who did not hesitate to take the lives of civilians, women and children, old and young, most of whom were buried in mass graves, the number of which has been discovered so far, 83, according to the Yazidi Abductees Rescue Office.
On the first day of the ISIS attack alone (August 3, 2014), about 1,300 Yazidis lost their lives, hundreds of children became orphans, and dozens of wives became widows.
More than 6,400 people were kidnapped by the militants of the terrorist organization, who carried out genocide against everyone whose hands reached them and did not comply with their orders, while others were tearing their lives as they watched the hand of the organization reaching their temples and holy places.
More than 80 mass graves are the result of the organization’s control of Sinjar and its outskirts for about a year, in addition to many individual graves, according to the Yazidi Abductees Rescue Office.
The Kurdish leader, Masoud Barzani, said to Baba Sheikh at the time, I promise you, I will not forget your tears, and I will not return until we liberate Sinjar, while the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, pledged not to rest until the last Yazidi Kurd is liberated from the hands of ISIS.
3,570 abductees have been released so far, according to the Yazidi Abductees Rescue Office, while more than 2,600 others are still missing.
On the occasion of the ninth anniversary, the director of the Office for the Rescue of the Yazidi Abductees affiliated to the Presidency of the Kurdistan Region, Hussein Qaidi, confirmed in a televised interview that the largest number of the remaining Yazidi abductees is in the Syrian al-Hawl camp, indicating that there is no coordination with the Autonomous Administration of northeastern Syria.
Regarding the role of the Iraqi government in liberating the abductees, he said, “I can be certain that the Iraqi government, whether in terms of return or rehabilitation, has not recognized those affected, knowing that they belong to the Mosul Civil Service Department, and the duty of search, return, rescue, protection and compensation falls on the Iraqi government, and in many Sometimes we want the federal government to enter the line as an international institution in order to implement duties towards Iraqi nationals, and if they do not provide assistance, they must cooperate with us at least.
The terrorist organization’s attack caused the Yazidis to flee to the mountains on the outskirts of Sinjar and the Kurdistan region. Nine years after their displacement, the Yazidi Kurds are still prohibited from living in their homes, and they cannot enjoy freedom there.
Last Tuesday, the British government considered that the practices committed by the terrorist organization against the Yazidis in 2014 in Iraq constituted “genocide.”
“The United Kingdom has officially recognized that ISIS committed genocide against the Yazidis in 2014,” a statement from the British Foreign Office said.
The statement said that the announcement comes before events commemorating the ninth anniversary of the “atrocities” committed by ISIS against the Kurdish-speaking Yazidi minority in Iraq.
So far, Britain has recognized four cases of genocide: the Holocaust, Rwanda, Srebrenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the Cambodian genocide.
“The Yazidis suffered a lot at the hands of ISIS nine years ago, and the repercussions are still felt today,” British Minister of State for Middle East Affairs Tariq Ahmed said in a statement.
“Justice and accountability are essential for those whose lives were destroyed,” he added, noting that this “historic” recognition reinforces the UK’s commitment to ensuring “they receive the compensation they deserve and have access to justice.”
The statement recalls the British position according to which the classification of genocide is up to the competent courts and not to governments or non-judicial bodies.
This official recognition came after a ruling issued by the German Federal Court of Justice on January 17, 2023, condemning a former ISIS fighter on charges of committing practices that constitute genocide in Iraq.
The Yezidis are a religious group, most of whose members live near Mosul (north) and the Sinjar Mountains region in Iraq, while smaller groups live in Turkey, Syria, Iran, Georgia and Armenia.
The German judiciary was the first to admit, on November 30, 2021, that the crimes committed against the Yazidis constitute “genocide.”
Human rights organizations praised the decision, considering it historic.
The judges of the Frankfurt Court sentenced Taha Al-Jumaili (the former Iraqi fighter in ISIS) to life imprisonment on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity that led to death, war crimes and complicity in war crimes.
Al-Jumaili – who joined the ranks of the terrorist organization in 2013 – was convicted of letting a five-year-old Yazidi girl die of thirst in the summer of 2015 in Fallujah, Iraq, after he bought her with her mother, Sabiya, according to the prosecution.
Genocide is prohibited in times of peace as well as in times of war under the Genocide Convention of 1948.
The convention classifies a group of crimes as genocide, noting that it is “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
2023-08-03 20:06:42
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