Survivors recount tales of Daesh brutality

Dohuk: Idris Silo was lucky to survive a mass execution of Yazidis when Daesh captured his village near Mount Sinjar.

“We tried to escape but Daesh militants, mostly young men, surrounded our village. Then their leader, a man who looked to be in his forties and called Abu Hamza, came to talk to us,” he told Gulf News.

“He said Islam is the only true religion and that we have three days to accept it.”

When they refused they were gunned down, but Idris was lucky enough to escape with his life.

Forty-year-old Raziya Abdul, from the Yazidi village of Tel Keppe in the Shingal region fled her village after Daesh took over. Her family is among thousands who fled to the safer cities of Arbil and Dohuk.

“First they kill all the men, but sometimes teenagers and women are also attacked. I even saw them behead a little baby,” she said.

Although Daesh has killed indiscriminately across sectarian lines even targeting fellow Sunnis, minorities seem to have bornee the brunt of the persecution, such as Assyrian Christians and Turkomen.

According to UNHCR, women have been particularly brutalised, with thousands reportedly abducted, sold and abused.

Rapes, executions and forced child recruitment are widespread.

“We currently receive an average of 150 refugees on a daily basis in the Dohuk camp. Out of the 100,000 refugees in Dohuk, 44.7 per cent are women and 44.1 per cent are children, says France Lau, UNHCR Senior Protection Officer in Duhok.

Last August, Daesh attacked Yazidis and forced thousands of their young women into sex slavery.

Amina, a 12-year-old Yazidi Arab was kidnapped from her village near Mount Sinjar and taken to the Syrian city of Raqqa with five other girls.

“We were beaten and tortured in a house almost everyday from around August 2014 until our escape in late February. Some girls were sold to other soldiers and I never saw them again.”

Twenty-year-old Yazidi Alfeen was abducted by Daesh from her school along with other girls. They were taken to different locations near the Syrian and Saudi border.

“We were raped and beaten daily. They threatened to sell us into prostitution in Saudi Arabia.” she told Gulf News.

Many of the young girls are seeking abortions and operations to replace their virginity due to the shame and rejection they may face in Iraqi society following the ordeal.

Iraq is no stranger to chaos and war. Over the years and before the emergence of Daesh, violence in Iraq left more than one million Iraqi women widowed.

The Organisation for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) has set up a refugee camp where many Yazidi women have sought refuge.

“Many have no male family members left and therefore no income,” Yanar Mohammad, OWFI President told Gulf News.

— Hermoine Macura is a freelance journalist based in Iraq