Kurdish government gains freedom of Yezidi captives for $1.5 million

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The Kurdish government said on Monday that it has purchased the freedom of 234 Yezidi captives from the Islamic State (IS) in return for $1.5 million paid to intermediaries.

Dr. Nuri Osman, a native of Shingal and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) official for Yezidi affairs told Rudaw that 150 of the freed Yezidis are women and 84 are men.

“We are not paying any money to the IS,” said Osman. “We pay the people who are helping us and it doesn't matter to us whether they buy them from the IS.”

“What matters is rescuing the person,” he added.

Osman said that the rescue effort is lengthy and complicated.

“Each case has its own story,” he explained. “In some cases we have paid ransom and in other cases the person has escaped and we have facilitated it.”

The freed men and women were among hundreds of Yezidi Kurds taken captive by IS militants when they attacked the town of Shingal and other Yezidi villages near Mosul in August.

Osman said that bringing the rescued captives to a Peshmerga-controlled save-heaven “has been the main challenge of the process.”

The KRG official said that different intermediary groups are involved in getting the Yezidi captives out.

“Not all of them [intermediaries] are Arabs, there are Kurds too,” he said.

Osman said that 30 of the freed men and women had been brought back from Syria.

“The people who were abducted aren't only within the borders of Iraq,” he said. “The men and women we brought back from Syria were Yezidis and residents of Shingal.”

Osman said that his office paid a $10,000 ransom for two men’s freedom and $20,000 for five women.

“The total amount of money we have spent hasn't all been in ransom,” he said. “Transportation is more expensive. The captives are at risk and we have to arrange their transfer from IS-controlled territories to our areas.”

Osman said that the freed Yezidis have undergone “intense abuse in captivity and they are put in the care of special medical teams and psychiatrist therapy immediately upon return.”