ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) have recently taken to social networks to sell what is likely to be Yezidi women held as sex slaves by the group for almost two years. A Kurdish Yezidi official says that this is an embarrassment for the international community and that they should get serious about helping Yezidi women under ISIS. An ISIS militant named Abu Assad Almani posted the picture of a Yezidi woman on Facebook with a caption that read "this girl is for sale." Almani's Facebook post that seems to be on May 20, has also set a price, as saying “To all the bros thinking about buying a slave, this one is $8,000,” The same ISIS member posted a second image a few hours later, of a younger girl with weepy red eyes. “This is another sabiyah [slave], also about $8,000,” the post read. The images were shortly afterwards taken down by Facebook. Social media accounts linked to ISIS members have in recent months shown numerous posts of buying and selling sex slaves. The extremist group captured thousands of Yezidi women and girls when it attacked the town of Shingal in August 2014. Many have since been rescued but officials say that more than 3,000 women are still held captive in different parts of Iraq and Syria. Khairi Bozani, the Kurdish government’s Yezidi affairs official thinks that the "International Community must be ashamed" for what is being done to Yezidi women by ISIS. "The International community, the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon and powerful countries must be ashamed because they are silent about what is being done against Yezidi women at the hands of ISIS," he told Rudaw. Bozani said that the Yezidi community itself is helpless and therefore “international parties are responsible, and they should take necessary steps to stop things done against Yezidis."
