Yezidis call for action after rain washes away mass grave
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A recent deluge of rain washed away some remains of Yezidis buried in a mass grave in the Shingal area, leaving the community demanding immediate intervention in order to not deprive the dead of justice.
"The people of Tal Azer, all of our villagers and people, ran away and came here. Daesh [ISIS] came from this road, opening fire on children, women, the youth. It killed all of them. Their remains have been lying here for four years here, but no one has bothered to do a thing," Khodida Khalaf, a man from Tal Azer, told Rudaw.
"When there is rain and then flooding, it washes away the remains. Nothing remains of the mass graves then," he said.
Heavy rains have caused flooding in several Iraqi province, including Nineveh.
The mayor of Tal Azer warned that soon all the remains in the mass grave will be washed away if something isn’t done.
"As you can see today, following the extensive rain, it took away the remains with it. Little is left of it," said Mayor Naqib Shukr Minhal.
He said they are always talking with relevant authorities about the graves and the need to exhume them under international standards, but accused the government of not doing enough.
For Yezidis unable to mourn their dead properly – or even confirm who is buried in the mass graves – the genocide is ongoing.
Khalaf begged for the mass grave to be exhumed in order to bring closure for the relatives of the victims buried there.
“We don’t want them not to see justice,” he added. “They were unjustly killed.”
More than 100 members of his clan, Zandi, were killed by ISIS in the genocide begun by the militants when they swept across northern Iraq in 2014.
"Our request is for something to be done about these mass graves, for a government to pay attention to it, for a humanitarian organization," Khalaf explained.
An estimated 12,000 Yezidis were killed in the first days of the militants’ advance. Tens of mass graves have been documented in the Shingal area, but the majority have not yet been exhumed.
The Kurdistan Region’s Commission of Investigation and Gathering Evidence, established to document ISIS crimes, exhumed a few of the graves, ones that were are risk of being damaged by rains, for example. At the advice of international professions, they left the rest of the graves untouched until they could be properly handled by experts when the area was secure.
The United Nations established an investigatory team to gather evidence of ISIS crimes in Iraq, at the request of Baghdad. The head of the team, British lawyer Karim Khan, will visit Shingal at the end of this month and expects to begin investigations in early 2019.
"The people of Tal Azer, all of our villagers and people, ran away and came here. Daesh [ISIS] came from this road, opening fire on children, women, the youth. It killed all of them. Their remains have been lying here for four years here, but no one has bothered to do a thing," Khodida Khalaf, a man from Tal Azer, told Rudaw.
"When there is rain and then flooding, it washes away the remains. Nothing remains of the mass graves then," he said.
Heavy rains have caused flooding in several Iraqi province, including Nineveh.
The mayor of Tal Azer warned that soon all the remains in the mass grave will be washed away if something isn’t done.
"As you can see today, following the extensive rain, it took away the remains with it. Little is left of it," said Mayor Naqib Shukr Minhal.
He said they are always talking with relevant authorities about the graves and the need to exhume them under international standards, but accused the government of not doing enough.
For Yezidis unable to mourn their dead properly – or even confirm who is buried in the mass graves – the genocide is ongoing.
Khalaf begged for the mass grave to be exhumed in order to bring closure for the relatives of the victims buried there.
“We don’t want them not to see justice,” he added. “They were unjustly killed.”
More than 100 members of his clan, Zandi, were killed by ISIS in the genocide begun by the militants when they swept across northern Iraq in 2014.
"Our request is for something to be done about these mass graves, for a government to pay attention to it, for a humanitarian organization," Khalaf explained.
An estimated 12,000 Yezidis were killed in the first days of the militants’ advance. Tens of mass graves have been documented in the Shingal area, but the majority have not yet been exhumed.
The Kurdistan Region’s Commission of Investigation and Gathering Evidence, established to document ISIS crimes, exhumed a few of the graves, ones that were are risk of being damaged by rains, for example. At the advice of international professions, they left the rest of the graves untouched until they could be properly handled by experts when the area was secure.
The United Nations established an investigatory team to gather evidence of ISIS crimes in Iraq, at the request of Baghdad. The head of the team, British lawyer Karim Khan, will visit Shingal at the end of this month and expects to begin investigations in early 2019.