ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Reports of sectarian retribution and disputes are plaguing areas in Iraq more than half a year after they were declared free of ISIS. “As the ground fighting against ISIS winds down in Iraq, state security forces need to turn their focus to preventing retaliation and upholding the rule of law,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at HRW in a report released Wednesday that documented an alleged act of revenge killings. “Past atrocities against the Yezidis don’t give its armed forces a free pass to commit abuses against other groups, whatever their past,” she stated. At least 52 members — mostly women and children — of the Sunni Arab Al-Jahaysh and Al-Metweti tribes were allegedly forcibly disappeared and killed south of Shingal by Yezidi Ezidikhan forces in June according to an investigation carried out by Human Rights Watch. As Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary forces (PMF) like the Imam Ali Battalion took control of areas of Shingal, they worked with some Yezidi fighters like the Ezidikhan Brigades and the Lalish Brigades. Two Yezidi community leaders claimed that the abduction and execution of the 52 Metweti tribe members was carried out by the Ezidikhan Brigades in then-abandoned Qabusiye, according to HRW. HRW said that a legal adviser to the Ezidikhan Brigades told them in July that their unit was involved in the capture of 52 people and that “if any members of the Metweti tribes try to return to Sinjar, we will kill them.” Yezidis say that members of the Metweti tribe cooperated with ISIS in carrying out atrocities. Up to 10 armed groups were known to have operated in Shingal in early 2017. The dominate groups in the north were the Kurdish Peshmerga and PKK-affiliated Shingal Protection Units (YBS). In the south were Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries and those like the Yezidi Ezidikhan. In July, a spokesperson for Iraq’s Foreign Affairs Ministry told HRW that the Qabusiye incident had been investigated and that initial findings indicated that “Yezidi forces had abducted the Metweti civilians as revenge for abuses against Yezidi women,” and that those responsible would be held accountable. HRW said it "has received no responses to queries as to whether anyone has been held accountable for the apparent killings." Reports of fighting between groups in Shingal have continued. "After a young Ezidi farmer was killed near the village of Tel Benat in [southeastern] Shingal yesterday, armed clashes erupted between Ezidis and the Sunni Arab tribe of Metweti," wrote Ezidi Press in tweet on December 14, adding that the “young Ezidi was found shot dead.” The Yezidi activist media also claimed that "the Metwetis were mostly loyal to ISIS and involved in the genocide against the Ezidis in Sinjar,” while hyperlinking to October 2015 posts on Twitter claiming to show “former neighbors” from Shingal who joined ISIS along with their names. “Upcoming storming of Shingal city,” wrote the activist group in 2015. “Ezidi fighters swear to take revenge on their former neighbours who collaborated with ISIS.” Iraqi forces and the Iran-backed Hashd took complete control from KRG Peshmerga of Shingal in October, along with other Kurdistani or disputed areas claimed by Baghdad and Erbil. “Allowing the many armed forces involved in Iraq’s civil war to retaliate against any group they think was complicit with ISIS would shatter the rule of law,” Fakih of HRW said. “Baghdad needs to assert its authority over the criminal justice process and end armed group vigilantes.” Kurdish efforts to document ISIS atrocities against Yezidis have stopped since the Iraqi incursions. Judge Ayman Mostafa, head of the Kurdistan Region’s committee to investigate ISIS crimes, said in early December that "there is no way to go there and there is no local administration there to deal with." The Commission has some 2,000 cases filed by Yezidi victims their families.
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