Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

[Anthea]

Fertility and Renewal:

The Yezidi New Year Festival Sere Sal

Sere Sal festival honors ancestors and the ‘Fiery Bird’ Tawûsê Melek


Tawûsê Melek is depicted as a peacock

"Say then, Let the Light of Knowledge flash forth from the ziarahs

Flash forth from the river of Euphrates to the hiddenness of Shambhala!

Let My sanjak be carried from its safe place into the Temple
And let all the clans of Yezid know of My Manifestation!"

- Revelation of Tawûsê Melek (Qu'ret al-Yezid)

Yazidis believe that Tawûsê Melek the 'Peacock Angel' is the representative of God on the face of the Earth, and that he comes down to the Earth on the first Wednesday of Nisan (April). Yazidis hold that God created Tawûsê Melek on this day, and observe it as New Year's Day, a time of remembrance, renewal, and fertility.

Fertility and the renewal of life play a central role in Yezidi religious thought and practice. It is therefore natural that their festivals embody life-affirming religious ideas as ancient as humanity itself. No Yezidi festival better illustrates this than the New Year festival Sere Sal, the spring fertility festival of annual renewal that symbolizes the story of creation, of immortality, death, rebirth and incarnation, in the renewed cycle of life and fertility.

The Yezidi New Year festival Sere Sal (literally ‘head of the year’) is celebrated on Charshema Sor or ‘Red Wednesday’, the first Wednesday after April fourteenth. Sere Sal commemorates a remote time when the ‘Peacock Angel’ Tawûsê Melek descended to earth to spread his brilliant wings in order to calm the lifeless earth from its agitation and to bless the earth with peace and fertility as represented by the peacock, the rainbow, and their bright colors. It is the oldest surviving feast in Mesopotamia.



Charshema Sor, when all work ceases, is a day of rest, reflection and worship. The celebrations begin on Tuesday evening, when the glow of candles and lamps fills Lalish Valley to welcome the New Year, announcing the birth of spring and the new cycle of life and rebirth.



Sere Sal celebration includes the coloring of eggs, a tradition often associated with Easter that actually dates back much earlier to the spring festival of Ishtar, the moon goddess of love, fertility, and war, who was the most widely worshiped goddess in Babylonian and Assyrian religion.

The colors of the eggs, including red, blue, green and yellow, represent the rainbow created by Tawûsê Melek when he descended at Lalish on Charshema Sor to bless the earth with fertility and annual renewal.

On the first day of the festival of Ishtar, the Assyrians would hang dyed eggs from the temple walls, signifying the fertility of Ishtar. Ishtar may be etymologically connected to Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring whose name later gave rise to modern the English word 'Easter'.



Red poppy flowers that bloom only in April are gathered to bless Yezidi homes with good luck and to bless young couples with fertility.

In Yezidi thought, the colors of the eggs, including red, blue, green and yellow, represent the rainbow created by Tawûsê Melek when he descended at Lalish on Charshema Sor to bless the earth with fertility and annual renewal. Yezidi homes are also marked with the colored eggshells and with red flowers that bloom only in April to bless the homes with good luck, and to bless young couples with fertility.

As Eszter Spät, the author of Late Antique Motifs in Yezidi Oral Tradition and Yezidis observes:

The painted eggs are said to symbolise the process of creation as recounted by Yezidi myth: how the white pearl containing God burst apart producing many colours, and also how the barren earth came to be covered by vegetation, grass, trees and flowers of many colours after heavenly Lalish, the throne of God, came down on earth on the first Wednesday of April.

A Yezidi cemetery located on the heights of Sheikhan

Likewise for Yezidis, the rainbow with its seven colors is a manifestation of Tawûsê Melek, a reminder that although the Peacock Angel remains out of sight most of the time, yet there are times when He reveals Himself in all His brilliant splendor, like a rainbow following a great storm.

Therefore whatever offerings Yezidis may make to their ancestors, as on Charshema Sor, primarily those offerings are made with the intention that Tawûsê Melek, God's regent on earth, may through his beneficient influence renew and restore the fertility of the earth, including crops, livestock, and most especially the fertility and welfare of the Yezidi people themselves.

An important feature of Sere Sal concerns the motifs of fire, the sun, and the return of departed ancestors, including especially Tawûsê Melek the Peacock Angel himself. Yezidis believe that the spirits of the dead return to their graves on Red Wednesday, because their ancestors died with the firm intention of celebrating every Sere Sal, as the faeries and other spirits of the earth are likewise believed to gather at this time. Yezidis accordingly do not fear the graveyards of their own ancestors, but come out to welcome, greet, and share food offerings, dance and music to the spirits of the departed, the living, and those who are yet to appear.

Before dawn on the day of Charshema Sor, women dress up in colorful clothing and go to nearby cemeteries with dishes, sweets, lamps and other offerings for the dead and fairy spirits who are said to return to earth on Charshema Sor.



Yazidi women light candles and torches outside Lalesh temple during a ceremony to celebrate the Yazidi New Year, on 17 April 2007.

These offerings include oranges, apples, dates, and colored eggs, etc. The graves are transformed into banquets for the departed who return to their graves. Women sing and dance with dehol (drum) and zorna (shawm). Tablecloths are spread on the ground between the graves as the women also feast upon their offerings. The graves are also decorated with painted eggs and a red flower that can be found only in April. Meanwhile, back in the villages, the men congratulate each other at the beginning of the New Year.

That day, cattle are garlanded with flowers in honor of Memyshivan, the protector of cattle. This too is done to bestow fertility upon Yezidi livestock.

'Parade of the Sanjak': A sacred ancient brass peacock lamp representing Tawûsê Melek is carefully wrapped in wool fabric and carried in procession by a mir as Yezidi laity offer their respects.

That night a great bonfire is lit at Lalish to beckon Tawûsê Melek to return as the sun, for both God and the sun are considered to be fiery by nature, and therefore fire is considered sacred. Compare this to Hebrews 12:29 "For our God is a consuming fire." Fire is regarded as an earthly form of the divine energy of the ‘Fiery Bird’ Tawûsê Melek.

It is said that boiling eggs at Sere Sal time represents how the earth was at first liquid and only then became solidified at Lalish. Marriage is forbidden during the month of Nisan while the earth is springing to life. Also forgiveness is enjoined at this time. Many who have been adversaries reconcile with mediation by a priest or friend for the sake of the New Year. This too reflects the Sere Sal theme of renewal and a fresh beginning.

‘Procession of the Peacock’

Another very important observance of the Sere Sal season is called the ‘Parade of the Sanjak’ or ‘Procession of the Peacock’, when the sanjaks or peacock lamps representing Tawûsê Melek are taken from their normal home, the residence of the Yezidi prince, and are conducted in stately processions from one Yezidi village to another accompanied by qawals, the sacred minstrels who offer traditional songs praising the Peacock Angel. As the sanjak is taken in procession, the faithful offer flowers, prayers, rich meals and sweets to the Peacock Angel and His traveling entourage.

At night the sanjak is watched over by a mir (priest) and by qawals who attend to the worship of Tawûsê Melek throughout the night. The sanjak is blessed with sacred oil and frankincense, offered incense and holy Zam Zam water. The holy spring of Zam Zam in Lalish dates back to Zoroastrian times.

There are seven sanjaks in total, each representing six great angels and Tawûsê Melek. The largest and most important one is the Sheikhni, representing Tawûsê Melek. At night a mir, the representative of Tawûsê Melek, attends to the sanjaks with prayers, and offerings of incense and oil are made followed by rounds of music and song about Tawûsê Melek throughout the night.

On the evening of Sere Sal after the Parade of the Peacock is concluded, Yezidi spiritual leaders including the Baba Sheikh assemble in the temple at Lalish. Meanwhile, thousands of Yezidis gather outside holding small oil lamps. The Baba Sheikh enters the tomb of Sheikh ʿAdī where he drapes new rainbow-colored satin cloths upon the tomb. He then lights a lamp and offers up incense and murmurs a special prayer addressed to Tawûsê Melek in the person of Sheikh ʿAdī.

Yezidi faithful crowd together in the small courtyard of Lalish sanctuary waiting for the Baba Sheikh to emerge, holding thousands of lit lamps. A hush comes over the multitude as the Baba Sheikh emerges and recites the 'Moon Dawn' prayer Nivea Nivro in which Tawûsê Melek the Peacock Angel says, "My wisdom knoweth the truth of things and my truth hath mingled with me...indeed I am He that pervadeth the highest heavens and I am He that cries in the wilderness." At dawn they pray Niveja Beridpede and finally Niveja Rojhlatine at sunrise.

As perhaps the world’s oldest religious community, the Yezidis have preserved an ancient tradition of extraordinary regard for heaven and earth alike, as well as respect, tolerance, and good will towards all other communities and religions of the world. Their ancient living heritage of life-affirming principles preserves deep truths that merit respect and emulation by all people of faith worldwide.

Charshema Sor - Red Wednesday

Yezidi New Year or Sere Sal falls on Charshema Sor or ‘Red Wednesday’, the first Wednesday after April 14th. These are the Charshema Sor (Sere Sal) dates for the years 2015-2020:

2015: April 15
2016: April 20
2017: April 19
2018: April 18
2019: April 17
2020: April 15

http://www.peacock-angel.org/sere.sal.htm

[Anthea]

PM congratulates
Armenia's Yazidis



Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has addressed a congratulatory message to the Yazidi community of Armenia on Malake Taus, the New Year.

The message reads:

“Dear representatives of the Yazidi community of Armenia,

Please accept my warmest congratulations on your New Year – Malake Taus. I wish welfare and peace to the brotherly Yazidi people.

The sincere friendship between the Armenian and Yazidi peoples has withstood the test of time; it has developed and strengthened all the way and has left a rich heritage based on mutual respect and solidarity.

I am confident that we will manage to ensure Armenia’s progress and prosperity jointly with the brotherly Yazidi people.

May you always be blessed with spring freshness, robust health and inexhaustible energy!”

https://en.armradio.am/2020/04/15/pm-co ... lake-taus/

[Anthea]

Happy Çarşema Sor to Yazidis

Yazidis celebrate "Çarşema Sor" (Red Wednesday) April 15



On the first Wednesday after April 13 each year, Yazidis celebrate the festival of "Çarşema Sor", which they believe marks the day when the world was created by God and life on earth started.

Marking the first day of the year and believed to usher in spring, "Çarşema Sor" symbolizes greater goodness and heralds revival and good days.

The power of good, love and beauty

Releasing a message, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has celebrated the festival in following words:

"Çarşema Sor Festival is blessed as the total victory of the good, love and beauty and the defeat of darkness, evil and malice. With its context of a common social life in fraternity and peace, it is also important in that sense.

"Celebrating Çarşema Sor, the harbinger of spring and a new life, our party wishes that coronavirus pandemic fought by the whole world will come to an healthy end, the Ezîdî women still held captives by the ISIS will be freed and Salafis, the enemies of humankind, will thereby be defeated."

April, the bride of the months

HDP Batman MP Feleknas Uca has also shared a message about "Çarşema Sor." Indicating that April is called "the bride of the year" by the people of Mesopotamia, Feleknas Uca has stated,

"Fine threads (basımbar) are woven in green, red and yellow. The belief has it that the basımbar brings health, peace and abundance. Especially children wear basımbar on their wrists so that they will not get sick. It is a sin to spill blood on Çarşema Sor, in now way is a life claimed on Çarşema Sor. It is a must to have eggs painted in different colors on this holy day."

Uca has also made a call for solidarity with the Yazidi community, an ancient civilization of the Middle East. Expressing her wish that "Yazidi women and children still held captives by the ISIS will wake up to free days," Uca has also noted that while Yazidis have been celebrating this day with a heavy heart due to the massacres and attacks against them, they cannot celebrate it together due to coronavirus outbreak.

Concluding her remarks, Uca has wished a equal, free and peaceful world for all oppressed communities on the occasion of Çarşema Sor. (AÖ/SD)

http://bianet.org/english/society/22298 ... to-yazidis

[Anthea]

ISIS fighter accused of
murdering Yazidi girl

A man believed to have belonged to Islamic State goes on trial in Germany today accused of genocide and murdering a Yazidi child he held as a slave

Identified only as Taha al-J due to German privacy laws, the 37-year-old Iraqi is also accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and human trafficking in the case, heard before Frankfurt judges.

His wife, a German woman named Jennifer Wenisch, has been on trial for a year at a Munich court.

She too is charged with murdering the young Yazidi girl who the pair are believed to have allowed to die of thirst in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2015.

Taha al-J's wife, a German woman named Jennifer Wenisch, has been on trial for a year at a Munich court for the murder of the young Yazidi girl

The start of Wenisch's trial in April last year appeared to be the first formal proceeding anywhere in the world related to the Islamic State group's persecution of the Yazidi community.

A Kurdish-speaking group hailing from northern Iraq, the Yazidis were specifically targeted and oppressed by the jihadists beginning in 2014.

The mother of the young girl, identified only by her first name Nora, has repeatedly testified in Munich about the torment visited on her child, named as Rania.

Court documents allege that Taha al-J. joined ISIS in March 2013, holding different positions within its hierarchy in the jihadists' 'capital' in the Syrian city of Raqa, as well as in Iraq and Turkey.

German prosecutors say the accused bought a woman belonging to the Yazidi minority and her five-year-old daughter as slaves at the end of May or beginning of June 2015.

He then took them to Fallujah, where they were seriously maltreated and at times deprived of food, the prosecutors allege.

In the summer of 2015, after a string of such abuses, the young girl was chained by al-J to the window of a house where she lived with her mother, as 'punishment' for having wet the bed.

She died of thirst in temperatures as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

The couple also forced her mother to walk barefoot on the scorching ground outside, inflicting severe burns.

Mother and daughter had been kidnapped in summer 2014 after ISIS invaded the Sinjar region of Iraq.

They were repeatedly sold on 'slave markets', prosecutors say.

The Frankfurt case is expected to last until at least August, and is being heard under tight police guard.

Al-J. was arrested in Greece in May 2019, before being extradited to Germany in October, where he has since been held in pre-trial custody.

Both Lebanese-British lawyer Amal Clooney and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad - herself a survivor of ISIS sexual slavery and a 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner - have represented the mother of the young girl at Wenisch's Munich trial.

The two women lead an international campaign to classify ISIS crimes against the Yazidi as genocide.

But proving before a court that genocide has taken place is difficult.

The explicit will to destroy a group such as the Yazidi must be demonstrated to judges' satisfaction.

'There is often no order to wipe out' a group, University of Leipzig legal expert Alexander Schwarz told AFP.

'There are no written instructions where 'exterminate the Yazidi' appears.'

The small ethnic and religious minority of the Yazidi is believed to have been most ferociously persecuted by the jihadists, who forced their women into sexual slavery, recruited the underage as child soldiers and murdered thousands of men.

In August 2014, the killings of 1,280 Yazidi and kidnappings of 6,400 more may have constituted a genocide according to the UN.

Non-Arab, non-Muslim Iraqis, many Yazidi have fled to Germany.

Murad, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is among those to have passed through a programme there for woman and children - many victims of repeated rapes - since its inception in 2014.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... trial.html

[Anthea]

An important day as Yezidi activists
welcome German trial of ISIS suspect

"Today is an important day for the women who were enslaved by ISIS,” Yezidi activist Duzen Tekkal said at the opening of a trial of an Iraqi man accused of committing crimes against humanity in the death of a Yezidi child in Iraq

The man, identified as Taha al-J, is accused of “mass murder, crimes against humanity and committing war crimes. We believe that he has committed all these crimes as a member of the terrorist organization ISIS [Islamic State],” explained public prosecutor Anna Zabeck at the opening of Taha al-J’s trial on Friday.

Taha al-J and his spouse, a German woman named Jennifer Wenisch, are accused of enslaving a five year old Yezidi girl and her mother. Court documents allege the accused chained the young girl to a window as “punishment” in Fallujah in the summer of 2015. The girl died of thirst in the heat.

Wenisch’s trial began last year and Friday was Taha al-J’s first appearance in court.

Some 400,000 Yezidis were displaced from their homes when ISIS swept across northern Iraq in 2014. Thousands of men and boys were killed, while women and children were enslaved. About 3,000 Yezidis are still unaccounted for.

“The sorrow of the Yezidi girls and mothers are being discussed here. The sadness of these women is unforgettable. By punishing those who have committed crimes against Yezidis, the sorrow they have been living with since the ISIS attack will end,” said Tekkal.

This is believed to be the first case of an ISIS member for atrocities committed by ISIS militants in the genocide against the Yezidi minority.

Lawyer Amal Clooney, who represents Yezidi victims, welcomed the “historic” case in a statement issued jointly with fellow counsel Natalie von Wistinghausen and advocacy organization Yazda. “I commend the German authorities for their leadership in prosecuting those responsible for committing genocide against the Yezidis, and for answering the call from survivors to hold ISIS to account for their crimes,” said Clooney.

As Iraq and the United Nations, through the Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh (UNITAD), continue to exhume mass graves and gather evidence of ISIS crimes, Yazda’s executive director Murad Ismael called on “all governments to work together to bring back our missing women, men, and children.”

https://www.rudaw.net/english/world/25042020

[Anthea]

Virus outbreak in Yazidi
camps would be catastrophic

The minority group are now preparing for the worst as humanitarian groups have limited access to camps

Aid groups in Iraq are warning of a "catastrophe" if the coronavirus were to reach displacement camps for the Yazidi people.

Hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Yazidis living in camps in northern Iraq are at risk of contracting the disease that has killed over 177,000 people worldwide.

Although there are no cases in the camps at present, the risk is growing as cases in wider Iraq grow. The country has so far confirmed over 1,600 infections and 83 coronavirus-related deaths.

ISIS targeted the Yazidis, an ethno-religious group, in 2014 after they overran large areas of Iraq and Syria, forcing them out of their homes and into sprawling displacement camps.

Over 15,000 Yazidis are currently based in the Khanke Camp in the northern Kurdish city of Duhok.

A medical clinic in Khanke, run by the AMAR Foundation, is doing all it can to raise awareness of the virus.

Volunteers at the clinic, who are trained by its manager Doctor Khalil Mahmood, tour various camps advising people on essential hygiene measures, social distancing, and measures on how to keep safe despite living in tents.

“Raising awareness of the disease is part of its treatment,” Mr Mahmood told The National.

Yazidis have also been given cards and posters by the clinic to give them an extra reminder of being careful at all times.

For the last six years, the foundation's locally-educated and trained teams in the Kurdish region have been working tirelessly to help displaced Yazidis, AMAR's Founder and Chair, Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, told The National.

“Through our state-of-the-art clinics, our doctors, nurses, social workers and volunteers have been providing the best care for both their physical and mental health," Baroness Nicholson said.

"Now we are doing our best to ensure all camp residents know how to stay safe and avoid catching this dreadful virus."

She added AMAR clinics are remaining open and the "greatest" measures were being taken to ensure the safety of staff and patients.

If there is an outbreak, aid agencies fear the disease will spread quickly.

“It will be difficult for those to go into complete isolation and self-quarantine. There are usually five people in one tent and families are always together,” Mr Mahmood said.

"It would be a catastrophe."

The AMAR medical clinic does not have the capability to look after someone infected with coronavirus, so any patients suspected of having the virus would need to be transferred to a nearby hospital in Dohuk, Mr Mahmood said.

“News of the virus was a big concern for the Yazidis and they were effected emotionally,” Mr Mahmood said.

“But they are seeing the response of the medical centres and doctors from outside the camp are coming in especially to treat them and so they remain positive,” he said.

For centuries, the Yazidis, an ethno-religious group which emerged from Iran 4,000 years ago, lived in relative obscurity around the Sinjar mountains. But following persecution by ISIS the group hit international headlines.

“My staff - like medics around the world - are frightened they could be the first to develop symptoms. They all have families. Most are the sole providers. If they get sick, what will happen.”
— AMAR International (@AMARLondon) April 7, 2020

Various Yazidi men and women took up military training to fight back against the militants, becoming a symbol of resistance.

But many Yazidis are still suffering from trauma resulting from attacks by ISIS.

The militant group launched an assault on Sinjar, the Yazidi heartland in 2014, where they shot, beheaded, burned alive or kidnapped more than 9,000 members of the minority group.

The United Nations called the attacks a genocidal campaign.

An unintended consequence of the lockdown to contain the virus has been the suspension of already limited psychosocial therapy support.

Aid groups have complained lockdown measures imposed by the government in the northern Kurdistan region have impeded their work.

“We’ve faced many difficulties in entering camps in Duhok because of coronavirus. The government knows that if this disease would spread inside the camps they wouldn’t be able to control it,” Vian Ahmed, regional manager of the Lotus Flower centres, a British NGO in Duhok, told The National.

“We have closed all of our women's centres inside the camp and have attempted to speak to women remotely but sometimes it’s not as effective,” Ms Ahmed said. “The government is not allowing this to happen unless there are critical cases."

The entire Yazidi population is experiencing mental trauma caused by the acts of genocide, and some are displaying severe psychological difficulties, said a joint statement by several humanitarian organsiations released last week.

“Among those at heightened risk are the women and girls who experienced systemic sexual violence, and the boys who were forcibly recruited by ISIS,” said the statement.

The World Health Organisation must undertake an “urgent assessment mission to Sinjar, Tel Afar and the Nineveh Plain, and provide testing capacities for all internally displaced camps,” said the statement.

https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/c ... -1.1009773

[Anthea]

Virus Delays Survivor’s
Reunion With Family

A Yazidi woman who was kidnapped by the Islamic State terror group, taken to Syria and forced to marry an IS fighter as a teenager is finally ready to rejoin her loved ones after six years of separation

But authorities have told her she has to wait in Syria until the coronavirus pandemic ends to return to northern Iraq, where her family of 10 lives.

Laila Murad Eido, 17, was found by the Yazidi House organization in early April in al-Hol refugee camp in eastern Syria’s al-Hasakah governorate, where thousands of ISIS families are being held. Kurdish security forces have since moved her out of the overcrowded camp but told her she must stay in Syria due to the closure of the Iraq-Syria border due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“She was confused when we rescued her,” Mahmoud Rasho, a spokesman for the Yazidi House, told VOA. “She was thinking that ISIS is still in control and was afraid to reveal her identity. She was relieved after realizing that she was safe and was going to see her family again.”

In August 2014, the ISIS terror group swept across the Sinjar Mountains, massacring thousands of men and taking thousands of women and girls as sex slaves.

When the militant group entered Dahola village near the Yazidi town of Sinjar or Shingal, Laila, then 11, was abducted along her 13-year-old sister, Nohad, while the other eight members of the Eido family narrowly escaped to Iraqi Kurdistan’s Duhok province.

Family’s story

While free in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria, Laila was unable to speak to VOA due to the trauma she suffered under ISIS. Her older sister, Nohad, however, said she vividly remembers the scorching summer day that changed their lives.

“They separated men from women and took my father with four other men and took them to an unknown place. My father had a car, and ISIS put four other Yazidi men in the car and made my father drive in between an ISIS convoy. My father saw another side road and escaped from the convoy while ISIS was firing shots on his car, but he fled to a place called Chalmira,” Nohad told VOA, retelling the escape story of her father, Murad.

Laila, along with Nohad, her mother, grandmother, and five younger siblings, was later transferred from Dahola village to Tal Afar town in northwestern Iraq. Laila and Nohad were immediately separated to later be used as sex slaves. As for the rest of the family, “my grandmother knew the roads at night, and she helped the family escape during the night through a nearby valley,” Nohad told VOA.

While under the grip of ISIS, the two sisters were moved separately to several places under ISIS control across Iraq and Syria. A year later, in 2015, Laila was forced to marry an Iraqi ISIS fighter.

When ISIS began to lose territory in 2019, Laila and Nohad were moved to the extremist group’s last Syria stronghold of Baghouz, in eastern Deir el-Zour.

Nohad was rescued during the Baghouz battle and sent back to her family in Iraqi Kurdistan. Laila, however, was then taken, along with thousands of other ISIS families, to al-Hol camp, where she spent a year before being identified earlier this month.

"We hope someone would help us bring her home. We haven’t seen her for six years. We want her back,” Nohad said, adding that a more prolonged separation from Laila due to the coronavirus pandemic has put a heavy psychological strain on the Eido family.

For weeks, Syria and Iraq have imposed a lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19. Officials from both countries predict a cross-border travel ban could be extended for weeks to come in order to limit the spread of the virus.

Rasho, of the Yazidi House, said the Sinjar local council in Iraq is in contact with the central government in Baghdad to accelerate Laila’s reunion with her family. Until then, the Yazidi survivor is staying with Rasho’s family in Kamr village, in Syria’s northern al-Hasakeh.

Finding survivors

Following the defeat of ISIS physical caliphate in 2019, the Yazidi community hoped to find those kidnapped during the 2014 Sinjar massacre. Rights organizations such as the Yazidi House have since rescued dozens of Yazidis, including some victims as young as 10. However, they say about 3,000 Yazidis are still missing.

The Yazidi House said many missing Yazidis like Laila could be held inside refugee camps across northern and eastern Syria. Finding them has remained difficult, particularly in al-Hol camp, because they fear retaliation if they expose their religious background.

Al-Hol is a makeshift encampment set up for those who were displaced during the war against ISIS in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour. The camp’s population skyrocketed, from about 10,000 refugees in December 2018 to more than 70,000 by April 2019, after a U.S.-led operation captured ISIS’s last stronghold, Baghouz.

“In al-Hol camp, ISIS sympathizers tell Yazidis still held inside the camp not to announce their identity or they will be killed, especially when they rebuild their so-called caliphate. Many of the Yazidi survivors were taken when they were as young as 4-5 years old, and they went through ISIS brainwashing over the past six years,” Rasho told VOA.

Yazidis are a religious minority of about 550,000 people and are considered “devil worshipers” by ISIS. As such, when the radical Islamist group controlled the Yazid capital city of Sinjar in August, the group gave the Yazidis the option to convert to Islam or die.

Sinjar during the pandemic

Yazidi organizations estimate about 160,000 Yazidis have returned to war-hit Sinjar since its recapture by Kurdish peshmerga in November 2015. They say, however, the vast destruction of infrastructure by Islamic State is preventing some Yazidis from returning to the surrounding villages.

Although no confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported in Sinjar, activists warn that displacement and poor health facilities mean the pandemic could be uncontrollable if it hits the Yazidi areas.

“There are no isolation units in Sinjar, and any suspected case (would be) transferred to Mosul. There are two small hospitals in Sinjar, they have only one ventilator, no ICU, and there is a scarcity in masks and disinfecting materials,” Saad Babir, a spokesman for Yazda Organization, told VOA.

https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch ... ion-family

[Anthea]

16-year-old Yazidi girl freed
after six years in ISIS captivity

As a ten-year-old Ronya F. experienced the genocide of the Yazidis in Şengal. She, her mother and siblings were sitting at home when the terrorist militia ISIS invaded the region on August 3, 2014 and committed genocide



Those who were able to save themselves on that hot summer day fled to the mountains. On the way there, countless children and elderly people died of thirst. Men who could no longer make it away were brutally murdered by the ISIS. Thousands of Yazidi women were kidnapped and sold, maltreated and raped in the ISIS slave markets. According to the UN, more than 12,000 people were killed and over 400,000 were driven from their homes. Almost 2,900 Yazidi women, men and children are still missing.

Ronya, her mother and siblings were also abducted by the ISIS. They were first taken to Mosul, then to a slave market in Tal Afar, where most of the middle ISIS cadres came from. In Tal Afar the girl was separated from her mother and her siblings. An ISIS family bought Ronya and took her to Raqqa in northern Syria. There she lived in the household of a Russian woman named Umm Taleb. She had to learn fluent Russian as well as Arabic, and almost lost her mother tongue. Only a few Kurdish words remained for her.

“Married” to a jihadist at the age of 14

At the age of 14, Ronya was married to a jihadist 18 years older. After a stay in the East Syrian town of al-Mayadeen, the journey continued near Abu Kamal, to Baghouz. The village had been the last enclave of the ISIS before the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) broke the territorial rule of the militia and defeated the organization militarily in March 2019. Since then Ronya lived in the Hol Camp near Hesekê in northeastern Syria where families of ISIS mercenaries are held.

A few days ago Ronya was rescued from ISIS enslavement. She had been able to contact a maternal uncle via Facebook, who gave her the phone number of the Yazidi House (Mala Êzidîyan) of the Cizîrê region. The Yazidi House is an institution in Hesekê, which has dedicated itself to the search for abducted Yazidis from Shengal. After a call to the organization, it took only a few hours to free Ronya, who is now 16 years old. She spoke to ANHA news agency what she has been through.

A normal life, without fear and bombs

Ronya tells that she met many Yazidi women and girls after she was abducted from Shengal. However, an escape from the ISIS was never an issue for her as others tried it and were severely tortured.

“We were not allowed to speak Kurdish either, otherwise they would have killed us. We were considered infidels anyway. They always said that Islam is the only true religion."

The hardest thing for Ronya was the separation from her mother. "I hope to return soon to my family in Shengal and lead a normal life without fear, away from bombs."

The Yazidi House has been able to rescue 236 Yazidi women and children from Hol Camp since the military victory over ISIS. However, the organization suspects that there are still hundreds, if not thousands, of Yazidis in the camp. "Many Yazidis do not dare to signal their true identity and instead claim to be Muslims. For years they have been inculcated with the idea that their families will reject or kill them because they have converted to Islam. Or they are directly threatened with death if they tell the camp leaders about their Yazidi identity," explains Mehmûd Memî from the administrators of the Yazidi House. Ronya is currently receiving medical and psychological care there before she is brought back to Shengal.

Journalist: Ronya's mother and siblings are in Canada

Ronya’s mother and her siblings seem to live in Canada by now. Dutch journalist Brenda Stoter wrote on Twitter that Ronya’s mother now lives in Canada with her other children. This might indeed be the case since Canada has taken in around 1,200 Yazidi families who were persecuted in Iraq by the jihadist militia in 2017.

I know this girl, I met her mother in Iraqi Kurdistan, and interviewed her for my book on the genocide. So happy that she is back. Her mother now lives in Canada with her other children. Hopefully they will be reunited soon. https://t.co/vH9TOR2ytk
— Brenda Stoter Boscolo (@BrendaStoter) April 26, 2020

KCK: August 3 should be recognized as Day Against Femicide

The ISIS genocide of the Yazidi people in Shengal was systematically directed against women. Therefore, in its form it is also a femicide. The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) demands that August 3 be recognized as an international day against femicide and that the crimes against Yazidi women be punished:

"The patriarchal spirit must be buried where it was born in history. The peoples of the Middle East should take a women's emancipatory approach against the dark mentality of the ISIS and transform the region back into a place where the liberal spirit of women dominates the field".

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Yezidi farmers return to their farmlands

Displaced farmers in Iraq's Duhok are reunited with nearby farms, after a lockdown kept them separated for weeks



Because of the coronavirus, a lockdown had kept displaced people in Duhok confined to their camps for over 40 days. But local authorities have given them access to the land around their camps once again.

Since then, hundreds of displaced Yezidis have returned to the farms to work their land. Among them is Hawas Zeydo, who says the way farmers are working and interacting with one another has changed.

"We still keep a two-metre distance and we don't work close to each other," Zeydo adds.

Over 594,000 refugees and internally displaced people live in 21 different camps across Duhok, according to the Board of Relief and Humanitarian Affairs in Duhok governorate.

The majority of the displaced people in Duhok are Yezidis from Shingal, while the refugees are Syrian Kurds.

The displaced farmers were allowed to return to lands in Duhok days after the governorate celebrated its declared victory over the virus. Since that celebration on April 22, a new case of the virus was discovered.

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq has 381 confirmed cases and 5 deaths from the coronavirus. Across Iraq, there are 1,928 confirmed coronavirus cases and 90 deaths, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/02052020

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COVID-19 risks Deepening
Mental Health Crisis for Yazidis

Yazidis displaced in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. They also face a mental health crisis that the pandemic threatens to make worse

Zaid Hamu, 31, has just heard the news that a resident of Darashakran camp in Erbil has been diagnosed with COVID-19. The case, reported on April 27th, is the first in Iraq's camps for refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). Zaid lives in Khanke camp with 22 members of his family. "People are terrified," he says. "They are praying to god to protect them."

In Iraq, 250,000 Yazidis are unable to return home to Sinjar almost six years after ISIS invaded the district and murdered, kidnapped and enslaved thousands of the religious minority, acts recognised by the UN as genocide. Most, like Zaid and his family, live in canvas shelters in large IDP camps.

Dr Nezar Ismet Taib is the Director General of Health in Duhok Governorate, which hosts 22 of the Kurdistan Region's 38 camps, including Khanke. "People living in camps are among the most vulnerable groups to COVID-19," he says. "They have big families living in very crowded shelters, poor sanitation, lack of awareness and many are working outside the camps. This makes it very difficult to protect them unless severe restrictions on movement are imposed."

The AMAR Foundation runs healthcare clinics in two of the camps, Khanke and Essyan, each with a population of around 15,000. Teams are working hard to prevent an outbreak, making home visits and distributing leaflets and posters on the importance of hand washing and other protective measures.

A full lockdown in camps has been eased in recent days, but restrictions on movement are still in place. Initially, people could leave and re-enter camps only in an emergency, which restricted residents' ability to earn. The authorities face an exceptionally difficult balancing act. For Zaid in Khanke, though, the relaxing of restrictions has left him and his family feeling exposed.


Zaid and his family outside their home in Khanke camp, April 2020

Mental health crisis could get worse

When ISIS attacked Sinjar in 2014, they killed around 5,000 Yazidis and abducted 7,000 more, most of them women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery. Thousands of children were also kidnapped . Many remain missing.

No Yazidi has been untouched by this. Those who have returned from captivity have acute, complex mental health needs requiring long-term psychiatric and psychological care that stretched health authorities struggle to provide. Mental health care capacity in Iraq is exceptionally limited. According to a study by the Enabling Peace in Iraq Centre, in 2017 there were only 80 working psychologists for the whole of Iraq.

The provision of psychosocial support services, which attempt to make up some of these gaps, has already been affected by restrictions on movement imposed as a result of the virus. According to the International Organization for Migration, 45% of these are currently closed in Iraq.

Psychiatrist Dr Adnan Asaad Taher leads AMAR's mental health programme in Essyan camp. He says that the team have had to scale back home visits, but psychotherapy sessions for the most severe cases continue.

"Residents of these camps have already witnessed large-scale trauma; the COVID-19 pandemic poses another potential trauma for many. With the spread of false information on social media, camp residents are faced with uncertainty," Dr Adnan says. "They also face isolation and fear falling ill and losing loved ones to COVID-19."


Dr Adnan Asaad Taher, who leads AMAR's mental health programme in Essyan

Dr Nezar, himself a qualified psychiatrist who treated the first Yazidi women and girls to escape from ISIS, is also concerned. "In our last mental health working group, many of our partners reported an increased number of suicides and other serious mental health problems among IDPs."

He also believes that in the longer term "there will be a negative impact on general health and mental health services for victims of ISIS, especially ISIS victims of rape, who need more consistent and long-term mental health care."

The diversion of healthcare resources to fight the virus and the impact the pandemic is having on the already struggling Iraqi economy are likely to limit the ability of the authorities to scale up mental health treatment. AMAR's programme in Essyan will continue, but thousands more Yazidis need access to this kind of psychological support.

Displacement will last for many more years

For most Yazidis there is little prospect of a life beyond the camps. Although some, like Zaid, dream of a return to Sinjar and the "simple, happy life" they had before ISIS, the region's disputed status and the presence of various armed factions make it too unsafe and have hindered reconstruction efforts. With authorities now preoccupied with the pandemic and its economic consequences, the situation is unlikely to improve.

It is therefore vital that, as countries look to battle their own internal crises, the international community does not forget the Yazidi people recovering from genocide and facing this pandemic in ever more intractable displacement.

https://menafn.com/1100106894/COVID-19- ... or-Yazidis

[Anthea]

Glad to be in Canada
even amid a pandemic

You'd think that being stuck at home with seven kids would be very difficult, but newcomer Hasan Silo wouldn't want to be anywhere else

Hasan Silo moved to Canada 18 months ago from Iraq. He lives with his wife and the couple's seven kids. (Kate Dubinski/CBC News)

You'd think that being stuck at home with seven kids would be very difficult, but newcomer Hasan Silo wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

In mid-March, just as Canada was shutting down schools, businesses and borders amid a growing global pandemic, Silo and his wife were celebrating a momentous anniversary: two years in Canada.

"The Canadian government and the Canadian people, they helped me very much," Silo said.

The couple and their seven children, ranging from three years old to 13-years-old, have been hunkering down like the rest of Canada, waiting for the country to return to some sort of normal.

But Silo, who is a Yazidi from Iraq, is happy to be here, even though his extended family continues to live in a refugee camp, where cramped quarters and lack of proper sanitation make COVID-19 even more deadly.

"My brother and sister and parents, they are in a camp in Kurdistan. They, too, stay at home," Silo said. "They do not go outside. For them, it is hard, not like here."

The Canadian government vowed to resettle 1,200 Yazidi refugees, an ethnic group targeted by ISIS.

Studying English, playing games

Right now, Silo's priority is learning English. Last week, when picking up breakfast for his family through a Luso Community Services breakfast program, he stuck around and spoke to the staff members, trying to practice.

Later that day, he had his first conversation circle via Zoom. Otherwise, the family passes the time just as everyone does, doing what they can at home.

"All day, we sometimes play in the back garden, we study English, we play games, we write in books" Silo said.

"I like to have my children at home with me because of coronavirus. Back home, it is very dangerous for Yazidi people. Here, it is good."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/l ... -1.5554261

It is so sad that Yazidis are forced to leave their homelands in order to live in safety

In my valued opinion, the coalition (who are partly responsible for the destruction of Yazidi lands, properties and businesses) should pay towards the rebuilding and protection of the Yazidis homes and lands

[Anthea]

German woman kept
Yazidi child as slave

She was the wife of ISIS fighter Denis Cuspert, a rapper known as ‘Deso Dogg’

Prosecutors are charging the woman with terror and human trafficking charges.

A woman who married a German rapper-turned-ISIS fighter and who allegedly kept a Yazidi child slave in Syria went on trial in Germany on Monday.

Known only as Omaima A, 35, the German-Tunisian woman is accused of membership of a foreign terror group, human trafficking and crimes against humanity.

She travelled to ISIS-held territory in Syria in early 2015 with her three children to join their father and her first husband, a man identified as Nadar.

After he was killed she married German-Ghanaian ISIS member Denis Cuspert, formerly a rapper known as Deso Dogg.

Cuspert was killed in early 2018 while fighting for the terror group as its territory in Iraq and Syria dwindled.

Prosecutors say Omaima held a 13-year-old Yazidi girl as a slave between spring and summer of 2015, raised her children under ISIS rules and received financial support from the terrorist organisation.

Cuspert was one of the most notorious western fighters for ISIS, having appeared in several propaganda videos including one that showed him with a man's severed head.

After becoming pregnant to Cusper, Omaima left him and quietly returned to Germany in 2016 with her three other children.

There she is believed to have worked as an interpreter.

When it was reported that she was living freely in Germany, there was outrage over why she had not faced prosecution.

She was arrested in Hamburg last September.

https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe ... -1.1014798

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Yezidi shrines desecrated

Turkish-backed armed groups continue to desecrate property belonging to the Yezidi minority in Afrin



Cemeteries, religious shrines and Yezidi cemeteries in Afrin have been destroyed, stolen and looted by armed groups, according to local activists.

The Ezdina Foundation, which monitors abuses in Afrin in general and against Yezidis in particular, documented the latest information and footage of the damaged shrines and cemeteries.

“We are documenting these oppressions and show them to the international community so they can help the Yezidi minority in northern Syria,” said Ali Isso, head of the foundation, to Rudaw TV on Monday.

Shrines looted and vandalized by armed groups include the shrine of Sheikh Junaid in the village of Faqira, the shrine of an ordinary king in the village of Qibar, the shrine of Sheikh Hussein in the village of Qibar, the shrine of Gilkhan and the shrine of Sheikh Rikab in the village of Shadiri.

Yezidi graves in the village of Qibar have also been destroyed. Villagers tried to repair the shrines, but the damage is still visible.

“Their aim is to destroy and loot all signs or symbols that represent the history and identity of the Yezidis,”Isso added.

According to information obtained by Rudaw from Yezidi organizations and activists, out of a total of 35,000 Yezidis, only about 3,000 Yezidis remain in the Afrin region.

Six Yezidi women and girls in Afrin have been kidnapped by armed groups in the past six months.

“Nergis was shot ten times and died. Arin Hassan, another Yezidi girl, was kidnapped 60 days ago… nothing is known about her,” Isso told Rudaw.

“Gulle Hassan was released two weeks ago after 40 days in prison. She was tortured a lot and her body turned black with bruises,” he added.

“They imagine that after next five years they can own the land. That’s why they want to remove the Identity of the Yezidi minority. They don’t want any signs of Yezidis and Kurds. They want to impose Ottoman, Turkish and Arabic signs on Afrin land.” Ali added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has warned of ethnic cleansing against Yezidis in the area, saying locals face "systematic violations" in at least ten villages in northern Syria.

Yezidi human rights organizations have condemned violations against Afrin's minorities for over a year.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/28042020

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From genocide to pandemic

Yazidis in Iraq face looming mental health crisis as Covid-19 spreads

It came after half a decade of suffering and residual trauma that psychologists have been trying to address in the internally displaced person (IDP) camps where many Yazidis still reside.

But with disaster looming as coronavirus cases mount in Iraq, many fear this could threaten the recovery of the persecuted sect and make them vulnerable to further psychological harm.

"IDPs are [an at-risk group who] need greater health awareness on how to stay safe and [protect themselves] from Covid-19," says Director of the Duhok Health Directorate Dr. Nezar Ismet, adding that more psychosocial mental health support is needed to "cope with the new scary situation in [this time of] coronavirus."

Over 350,000 Yazidi survivors live in the IDP camps in northern Iraq, including in Khanke, a town in the Duhok governorate of the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Run by Amar International Charitable Foundation, a London based humanitarian organisation with projects in the Middle East, Khanke refugee camp is just over 100 miles from Sinjar, where thousands of Yazidi men were massacred in 2014 while women and girls were taken as slaves after the Islamic State (ISIS) captured the town.

Over 350,000 survivors of the Yazidi genocide live in IDP camps in northern Iraq

The UN says the terror group, to which Taha Al-J belonged, is responsible for genocide against the religious minority.

The camp and town's only facility is a primary health clinic run by Amar. It serves the camp's official population of just over 15,000, while around 20,000 more people living around the camp and in the town also use its services.

While the virus hasn't yet reached the camp, its staff have been on high alert as cases started appearing in neighbouring states. "We started to collect information on preventing the spread of this disease, since February," says Dr. Ali Jawad, who runs the clinic in Khanke.

After immediately publishing announcements in Kurdish Padenanei, the Duhok dialect spoken by residents, the staff at the camp created posters and information cards to inform camp residents about recommended hygiene practices, including washing hands, and social distancing measures. Masks have been handed out, but with a global PPE shortage, there's an appeal for more support.

The primary health clinic has a laboratory, antenatal care facility, pharmacy, and a 24-hour ambulance. It is staffed by 25 medics and volunteers who educate residents about ways to identify potential Covid-19 symptoms, differentiating them from other cases of flu or tonsillitis.

A system for registering Covid-19 cases exists, but the clinic can't facilitate escalating coronavirus cases, at which point, an ambulance would take them to the nearest major hospital, 30 minutes away in Duhok city.

Jawad hopes preparations, which are also taking place in a camp run by the charity in Essian, are simply precautionary without the onslaught of the pandemic, as the reality of quarantine with five people on average per tent is almost impossible.

"Khanke is very dense and crowded, if the virus came into the camp, it would be a disaster," Ali says. "Tents sit side by side, and the virus would spread very quickly."

Residents have already adapted to the new procedures, says Jawad, limiting movement and physical contact. In addition, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has imposed a lockdown and curfew from 6pm.

Nearly 30 NGOs have warned that Covid-19 has the potential for disaster in northern Iraq. Still, insecurity and instability prevail with reported Turkish and KRG military activity in the region, as well as cross-border movement by the Peshmerga.

As of 8 May, more than 3.7 million people have contracted the disease worldwide, while deaths from the virus have surpassed 265,000.

There was an increase among Yazidis in the experience of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other psychological disorders after the coronavirus outbreak

Numbers in Iraq are rising with 2,296 confirmed cases, according to national data, 387 of which are in the Kurdistan region. Overall, 97 deaths have been reported, but scepticism remains around official figures.

So far, one case of coronavirus has been documented in a refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan – Darashakran camp, northeast of Erbil.

"We expect Covid to come to these places," says Ryan Bohl, Middle East and North African analyst at Stratfor, referring to the camps in the Kurdish region of Iraq, anticipating that the dire estimates of it being "devastating" will ring true.

Low numbers are likely down to lack of testing, says Bohl, with the virus already potentially widespread in the country. "Iraq is quite dysfunctional right now, so the notion that it would be either in refugee camps already, and not being reported correctly, or that it soon will be are not terribly off-the-mark assumptions to make," he says.

Bohl also worries that the virus isn't being taken as seriously as it should as people in the region, particularly IDPs, have seen higher death counts through a legacy of conflicts, which could mean containment measures are flouted.

"The countries that are most effective at carrying out lockdowns are the ones with a sort of authoritarian centralised leadership," says Bohl. "Iraq is in many aspects the complete opposite of that, refugee camps are even further away from it."

Furthermore, says Bohl, the humanitarian footprint in the region has been diminishing, which means refugee communities in northern Iraq could be battling a coronavirus outbreak without much international support.

Physicians worry such an event could hold back the gains in psychologically rehabilitating the already traumatised Yazidi population.

According to research by Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan – a psychologist and Dean of the Institute of Psychotherapy & Psychotraumatology at the University of Duhok – witnessing crises, even natural or chemical disasters, can laden people with psychological impacts.

Thousands of Yazidi men were massacred in Sinjar in 2014, while women and girls were taken as slaves after the Islamic State captured the town

Conducting a psychological survey of refugees in northern Iraq, he compared data from October 2019 with information collected through the same set of questions among the same population in April 2020.

All participants were Yazidis, who fled IS in 2014 and have since lived in the camp setting near Duhok city. They had either experienced an attack, witnessed harm, or had lost friends and family members in the genocide.

Kizilhan said there was a general increase in the experience of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other psychological disorders after the coronavirus outbreak, by up to 10 percentage points in some cases. Suicidal thoughts had also increased.

Kizilhan says this increased prevalence was primarily due to anxieties of not being able to get medical support in the event of a Covid-19 outbreak. However, Kizilhan admits the sample for the study is small and provides a "momentary overview."

Khanke's primary health care centre has also been providing mental health services, and Ismet, like Kizilhan, believes there should be assessments in the future to understand the impact the Covid-19 pandemic will be having on displaced people with psychological disorders.

Such a study could illuminate the need for new evidence-based psychotherapeutic and psychiatric treatment in the event of future pandemics.

In the current situation, however, restrictions on movement not only hinder humanitarian actors' ability to distribute essentials like food, water, and medicine but also from delivering psychosocial support.

And it has effectively stalled much of the fieldwork of UNITAD, the United Nations team investigating the genocide of IS, leaving not just recovery, but justice, and the chance to rebuild, hanging in the balance.

Sophia Akram is a researcher and communications professional with a special interest in human rights particularly across the Middle East.Follow her on Twitter: @mssophiaakram

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/i ... 19-spreads

[Anthea]

Yazidi girl returns home
after years of ISIS captivity

Layla Eido, 17, was among dozens of women and girls from Iraq's minority Yazidi community who were abducted by IS from their ancestral home of Sinjar in 2014

The women were enslaved, systematically raped, or married off by force to jihadists, but for Eido the nightmare came to an end when the jihadist group's so-called "caliphate" collapsed last year.

Since then, she had been stuck in the Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp in northeast Syria, which had become home to thousands of IS wives and their children.

But several months ago she managed to contact her family in Iraq and just as she was about to be reunited with them, the COVID-19 pandemic forced both Iraq and Syria to close their borders, delaying her return.

On Sunday, Eido, who was 11 when she was abducted, finally made her way back to Iraqi territory along with another Yazidi survivor called Runia Faisal, an activist from the minority community told AFP.

Both girls who entered Iraq are "in good health", the activist said.

During her stay in Al-Hol, Eido had kept the fact that she was Yazidi a secret, fearing for her safety.

The jihadists "used to scare us and tell us the Kurds would kill us if we told them who we really were", Eido had told AFP earlier this month.

The activist said Kurdish forces helped both girls return to Iraq.

https://news.yahoo.com/yazidi-girl-retu ... R9Wiuo0pbk