ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Islamic State (IS/ISIS) militants in Iraq have sold or handed out hundreds of Yezidi women captured as war trophy to fighters in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.
The British-based Observatory said it had documented evidence that 27 of the captured Yezdi girls had been “sold and married” to fighters in Aleppo, Raqqa and Al-Hassakah. It said the girls were sold for $1,000 each.
In addition, “in recent weeks, some 300 women and girls of the Yezidi faith who were abducted in Iraq have been distributed as spoils of war to fighters from the Islamic State,” SOHR said in a statement.
The Islamic State, which has been fighting in Syria for more than three years, had captured about a third of Iraqi territory since June, declaring a Caliphate in seized lands.
Iraq’s non-Muslim minorities, like the Christians and Yezidis, have been especially targeted by the IS armies. Because of their faith, the Yezidis are considered “unbelievers” by the militants, many of them killed and captured, their properties looted and their young women taken as war booty.
Heiner Bielefedt, the UN’s special monitor on religious freedoms, warned last month: “We have reports of women being executed and unverified reports that strongly suggest that hundreds of women and children have been kidnapped - many of the teenagers have been sexually assaulted, and women have been assigned or sold to 'IS' fighters.”
Early this month, IS militants captured the Yezidi town of Shingal and surrounding regions, capturing hundreds of young women and sending villagers fleeing to an arid mountain where they fought for more than a week for survival.
The suffering of the Yezidis was cited as US President Barack Obama as one of the motives for starting air strikes against the IS.
The British-based Observatory said it had documented evidence that 27 of the captured Yezdi girls had been “sold and married” to fighters in Aleppo, Raqqa and Al-Hassakah. It said the girls were sold for $1,000 each.
In addition, “in recent weeks, some 300 women and girls of the Yezidi faith who were abducted in Iraq have been distributed as spoils of war to fighters from the Islamic State,” SOHR said in a statement.
The Islamic State, which has been fighting in Syria for more than three years, had captured about a third of Iraqi territory since June, declaring a Caliphate in seized lands.
Iraq’s non-Muslim minorities, like the Christians and Yezidis, have been especially targeted by the IS armies. Because of their faith, the Yezidis are considered “unbelievers” by the militants, many of them killed and captured, their properties looted and their young women taken as war booty.
Heiner Bielefedt, the UN’s special monitor on religious freedoms, warned last month: “We have reports of women being executed and unverified reports that strongly suggest that hundreds of women and children have been kidnapped - many of the teenagers have been sexually assaulted, and women have been assigned or sold to 'IS' fighters.”
Early this month, IS militants captured the Yezidi town of Shingal and surrounding regions, capturing hundreds of young women and sending villagers fleeing to an arid mountain where they fought for more than a week for survival.
The suffering of the Yezidis was cited as US President Barack Obama as one of the motives for starting air strikes against the IS.
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