Earlier this week, the news went around the world: 300, perhaps as many as 600, Kurdish Yezidis held in captivity by the Islamic State were slaughtered in their village near the jihadists’ self-proclaimed capital of Mosul.
Even the BBC, usually known for checking its sources well, ran the story on Saturday. It put the Yezidis in Iraq back into the spotlight. Their plight is incredibly painful, with more than 3,500 of them believed to be still in the hands of ISIS.
But the story about the massacre soon proved to be a hoax.
The news surfaced on May 1 through the Facebook page of Atheel Nujaifi, the governor of Mosul, who reported that “several hundreds” of Yezidis had been killed. He did not mention where or how, but soon social media picked it up and the story went viral.
Still, trusted Yezidi and Kurdish sources could not get confirmation and neither could the High Religious Council of Yezidis.
Even the official in charge of Yezidi affairs for the Kurdish prime minister, Nouri Abdulrahman, at first could not find anyone who could confirm the story. Only after three days did he find out through trusted local sources, that there had been no massacre.
Five or six Yezidi’s were executed on May 1 as part of a group of about 20 people, among them smugglers and captured Iraqi police and army officers.
This had been the result of a decision by the Sharia court of ISIS. As on most Fridays, someone had to be executed to keep the fear within the community.
Vian Dakhil, the Yezidi member of the Iraqi Parliament who has taken the plight of her people across the world, has reacted with dismay to the reports about the slaughter.
On Monday, she also resorted to Facebook, to say that it was “unfortunate” that some politicians in Mosul province had “intentionally or unintentionally confused the Yezidi street by disseminating inaccurate information that cannot be confirmed.”
She said that while ISIS has committed “the worst atrocities against Iraqis of all sects,” it was “unacceptable” to promote claims without reliable sources.
Here are some known facts: ISIS brought together thousands of Yezidis in villages near Tal Afar that were emptied when local Shiites fled in June and July. The villages were fenced off and changed into prison camps with very little basic services like water, electricity and even food.
ISIS uses these camps to imprison Yezidi families and older men and women. Some of the more than 260 sick and elderly recently released from the camps, and the dozens of others who were able to escape to the safety of the Kurdistan region, have told of extreme hardship.
Last week, Yezidi activists in Iraq reported that ISIS had separated hundreds of male Yezidi captives from women and girls and could be preparing to kill them.
Mirza Dinnayi, a senior Yezidi leader and an adviser to the Kurdish Regional Government, told the Yezidi news portal Ezidi Press on April 26 that about 500 Yezidi boys and young men over the age of 14 were set apart.
It could be that ISIS needs new army recruits because it has been losing many of its fighters on the frontlines in Iraq and Syria. As it has done in the past, it probably wants to put the Yezidi boys and men through schemes involving brainwashing and military training to get them ready to become cannon fodder.
At the same time, after at least 1,100 Yezidis have been able to escape from ISIS captivity – amongst them 650 women who were mainly held as sex slaves - it is possible the ISIS fighters need fresh “slaves.” Some reports say the women and children have been taken to Syria, where they would be sold to the fighters for domestic use.
It is also known that ISIS has a problem killing Yezidis who converted to Islam. And as far as is known, all captured Yezidis have been forced to convert in order to survive. According to the ISIS law books, it cannot kill these Muslims, which is probably also why it has released two groups of the sick and elderly that had become a burden for the ISIS fighting machine.
It is not clear if there is a relation between the unconfirmed reports and the urgent calls from within the Yezidi community in Kurdistan to set up an operation to liberate the Yezidis near Tal Afar, where many are located, and in other known locations.
The Kurds have not replied to the calls. According to Abdulrahman, such a mission cannot be carried out because there are too many people to be airlifted and the operation would require more helicopters than can be used in an orderly and safe manner.
Yet the reports have put the continued suffering of Yezidis back into the spotlight, putting new pressure on the Kurds, and the world, to finally do something to liberate them.
Even the BBC, usually known for checking its sources well, ran the story on Saturday. It put the Yezidis in Iraq back into the spotlight. Their plight is incredibly painful, with more than 3,500 of them believed to be still in the hands of ISIS.
But the story about the massacre soon proved to be a hoax.
The news surfaced on May 1 through the Facebook page of Atheel Nujaifi, the governor of Mosul, who reported that “several hundreds” of Yezidis had been killed. He did not mention where or how, but soon social media picked it up and the story went viral.
Still, trusted Yezidi and Kurdish sources could not get confirmation and neither could the High Religious Council of Yezidis.
Even the official in charge of Yezidi affairs for the Kurdish prime minister, Nouri Abdulrahman, at first could not find anyone who could confirm the story. Only after three days did he find out through trusted local sources, that there had been no massacre.
Five or six Yezidi’s were executed on May 1 as part of a group of about 20 people, among them smugglers and captured Iraqi police and army officers.
This had been the result of a decision by the Sharia court of ISIS. As on most Fridays, someone had to be executed to keep the fear within the community.
Vian Dakhil, the Yezidi member of the Iraqi Parliament who has taken the plight of her people across the world, has reacted with dismay to the reports about the slaughter.
On Monday, she also resorted to Facebook, to say that it was “unfortunate” that some politicians in Mosul province had “intentionally or unintentionally confused the Yezidi street by disseminating inaccurate information that cannot be confirmed.”
She said that while ISIS has committed “the worst atrocities against Iraqis of all sects,” it was “unacceptable” to promote claims without reliable sources.
Here are some known facts: ISIS brought together thousands of Yezidis in villages near Tal Afar that were emptied when local Shiites fled in June and July. The villages were fenced off and changed into prison camps with very little basic services like water, electricity and even food.
ISIS uses these camps to imprison Yezidi families and older men and women. Some of the more than 260 sick and elderly recently released from the camps, and the dozens of others who were able to escape to the safety of the Kurdistan region, have told of extreme hardship.
Last week, Yezidi activists in Iraq reported that ISIS had separated hundreds of male Yezidi captives from women and girls and could be preparing to kill them.
Mirza Dinnayi, a senior Yezidi leader and an adviser to the Kurdish Regional Government, told the Yezidi news portal Ezidi Press on April 26 that about 500 Yezidi boys and young men over the age of 14 were set apart.
It could be that ISIS needs new army recruits because it has been losing many of its fighters on the frontlines in Iraq and Syria. As it has done in the past, it probably wants to put the Yezidi boys and men through schemes involving brainwashing and military training to get them ready to become cannon fodder.
At the same time, after at least 1,100 Yezidis have been able to escape from ISIS captivity – amongst them 650 women who were mainly held as sex slaves - it is possible the ISIS fighters need fresh “slaves.” Some reports say the women and children have been taken to Syria, where they would be sold to the fighters for domestic use.
It is also known that ISIS has a problem killing Yezidis who converted to Islam. And as far as is known, all captured Yezidis have been forced to convert in order to survive. According to the ISIS law books, it cannot kill these Muslims, which is probably also why it has released two groups of the sick and elderly that had become a burden for the ISIS fighting machine.
It is not clear if there is a relation between the unconfirmed reports and the urgent calls from within the Yezidi community in Kurdistan to set up an operation to liberate the Yezidis near Tal Afar, where many are located, and in other known locations.
The Kurds have not replied to the calls. According to Abdulrahman, such a mission cannot be carried out because there are too many people to be airlifted and the operation would require more helicopters than can be used in an orderly and safe manner.
Yet the reports have put the continued suffering of Yezidis back into the spotlight, putting new pressure on the Kurds, and the world, to finally do something to liberate them.
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