The remains of the mother of Nadia Murad, genocide survivor and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018, lie in a mass grave where exhumation has begun today, she said. 

Murad’s mother was killed when ISIS militants took over their home village of Kocho in August 2014. 

“For 6 long years, I & other survivors were denied the right to bury our loved ones with dignity. Today, I am overwhelmed with emotion as the mass grave where she lays beside other Yazidi women is finally exhumed,” she tweeted.  
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The process of exhuming mass graves in Solagh and Kocho is expected to take 17 days, Dhia Karim, head of the Iraqi team, told Rudaw. "If we need more than 17 days for the exhumation, we will request it."

"After Kocho, we will work on other villages in Shingal. We are determined to exhume all mass graves,” he said. The process was begun early last year, but work was slowed because of the coronavirus pandemic. 
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Traditional Yezidi musicians lead the way as exhumation of a mass grave of victims of the Islamic State (ISIS) begins in Solagh, in the Shingal region of Iraq’s Nineveh province. 
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Karim Khan, head of the United Nations team investigating ISIS crimes in Iraq, thanked the Yezidi community that has been waiting to see justice for the atrocities committed against them. 

“The soil of Iraq is littered with sites where civilians were massacred by Daesh [ISIS]”, he said in the ceremony ahead of exhumation of a mass grave in Solagh. These crimes must be “properly investigated and responsible parties brought to justice.” 

Speaking to the Yezidi women present at the ceremony, he said, “Please remain patient, we are working intelligently to make sure all the necessary evidence is collected.” 

Khan promised that the crimes of ISIS will not be forgotten. 
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The mass grave in Solagh contains the remains of more than 70 people, all women, Sirwan Jalal, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)'s mass graves team, told Rudaw. 

“They were brutally martyred by Daesh [ISIS] terrorists. They are over 40 years old and include pregnant women,” he said. 

The mass grave to be exhumed in Kocho is believed to contain the remains of more than 50 men and boys from the village, he added. 
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A ceremony including Yezidi religious rites and speeches is scheduled to start at 11:00 am before exhumation of a mass grave begins in Solagh, south of Mount Shingal, Nineveh province. 

About 100 Yezidi women, many of them weeping, have gathered in Solagh wearing face masks. Continue Reading

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq will resume exhuming mass graves of victims of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Yezidi homeland of the Shingal region of Nineveh province, continuing a process that began last year. They will hold a ceremony in Solagh on Saturday morning and then begin exhuming graves in that village and in Kocho. 

“In Solagh subdistrict, ISIL [Islamic State, ISIS] militants committed mass killings of Yazidi women, and buried them in a mass grave. The remains of two such graves will be exhumed to then be matched, based on DNA sampling, with surviving family members who finally get the opportunity to lay their loved ones to rest, appropriately and according to traditions,” read a press release. 

After a ceremony that includes Yezidi religious rites, family members of victims of ISIS will be invited to provide DNA samples to help the investigatory teams identify the remains. Family members can also provide blood samples at Kocho primary school next week and in Shingal hospital.

Exhumations in Kocho began in March 2019. The grave to be exhumed on Saturday is the last of 17 mass graves in the village south of Shingal mountain, according to Yezidi advocacy group Yazda.

The exhumation is being carried out by the Iraqi government in coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government, the United Nations investigation team to promote accountability for crimes committed by ISIS (UNITAD), the International Commission for Missing Persons, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The work is estimated to take until mid-November when the remains will be brought to Baghdad for identification. 

ISIS militants swept across northern Iraq in August 2014, committing genocide against the Yezidis, an ethno-religious minority. In the first days of the ISIS attack, militants killed 1,293 people, according to figures from the Kurdistan Region’s office for rescuing kidnapped Yezidis. ISIS also captured 6,417 Yezidi women and children; 2,880 of whom remain missing.  
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