Yazidis

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Girl Kidnapped in 2011, Kept in Gaza, Is Freed

Fawzia Sido was kidnapped by ISIS at age 11

(Newser) - Amid all the strife in the Middle East, a tale of cooperation and hope: A woman kidnapped as an 11-year-old by ISIS more than a decade ago has been freed. Reuters reports the now 21-year-old, identified as Fawzia Sido, was removed from Gaza by the US in an operation that...

Widow of Slain Islamic State Leader Sentenced to Death

One of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's wives sentenced by Iraqi court for her role in crimes

(Newser) - An Iraqi court issued a death sentence against one of the wives of the late brutal Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, alleging that she was complicit in crimes committed against Yazidi women captured by the militant group, the country's judiciary announced Wednesday. The ruling comes weeks before the...

US: ISIS Leader Blew Himself Up in Raid
ISIS Leader Died Same Way
as His Predecessor
the rundown

ISIS Leader Died Same Way as His Predecessor

US says Abu Ibrahim al-Qurayshi deliberately blew himself up amid raid

(Newser) - An overnight raid in Syria by US special-operations forces resulted in the death of the Islamic State's leader, but it wasn't American forces who killed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. The US says the ISIS commander detonated a bomb as the raid unfolded at his compound, deliberately blowing himself...

A Girl Allegedly Died an ISIS Slave. Now, a Woman on Trial

Jennifer W. faces murder and war crimes charges against member of Yazidi minority

(Newser) - A German court on Tuesday saw the start of a major case: what is being called one of the most prominent ones against a female ISIS member, and what the AFP reports may be the first ever in which an ISIS member is accused of war crimes against the Yazidi...

Fresh ISIS Horror: Mass Graves With at Least 6K Bodies
UN Finding Fresh ISIS Horrors

UN Finding Fresh ISIS Horrors

More than 200 mass graves found in Iraq containing between 6K and 12K bodies

(Newser) - More than 200 mass graves containing between 6,000 and 12,000 bodies have been found in Iraq from the time of the Islamic State group's three-year reign, UN investigators said Tuesday. The 202 graves verified by investigators dot northern Iraq and are a "legacy of (ISIS')...

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Won't Keep Her $500K

Activist Nadia Murad will be donating it to help sex crime survivors

(Newser) - If any Nobel Prize winners strive for the award solely for the money, Nadia Murad isn't among them. The Hill reports the 25-year-old Yazidi human rights activist, who shared this year's Peace Prize with Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege, will be giving her $500,000 portion of the Nobel...

Doctor, Former ISIS Captive Win Nobel Peace Prize

They fought the use of sexual violence in war

(Newser) - The Nobel Peace Prize on Friday was awarded to a Congolese doctor and a Yazidi former captive of ISIS for their work to highlight and eliminate the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, the AP reports. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad "have made a crucial contribution...

ISIS Is Using Facebook to Sell Sex Slaves

Escape from captivity is growing more difficult

(Newser) - The advertisement on the Telegram app is as chilling as it is incongruous: A girl for sale is "Virgin. Beautiful. 12 years old … Her price has reached $12,500 and she will be sold soon." The posting in Arabic appeared on an encrypted conversation along with ads...

Kerry: ISIS Is Committing Genocide

Says US will support efforts to 'analyze the evidence of atrocities'

(Newser) - John Kerry says the Islamic State is committing genocide against Christians, Yazidis, and Shiite groups in Iraq and Syria. The secretary of state announced his findings from the White House on Thursday, citing evidence from a number of sources. "Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by its...

Kurds Make Dark Finds in Former ISIS Territory

Two mass graves found in Sinjar after terror group driven out last week

(Newser) - Kurdish forces said Sunday they uncovered two mass graves outside Sinjar, a northern Iraqi town near the Syrian border that was ruled by ISIS for more than a year before the extremists were driven out last week . The first grave uncovered was west of the town's center near the...

Escapees Give Look at ISIS' Brutal, Systematic Rape

Yazidi women, girls face widespread, unimaginable sexual violence

(Newser) - Women sold into marriage for $1,000. A 14-year-old girl given as a gift, the subject of daily beatings and numerous rape attempts. Hundreds, even thousands "shattered" by rape , slavery, torture. Released captives claiming "they did bad things." The latest report of ISIS' well-documented and poisonous...

ISIS Releases 216 Yazidis After 8 Months

Kurds say former prisoners bear signs of abuse, include kids

(Newser) - The Islamic State released more than 200 Yazidis today after holding them for eight months , an Iraqi Kurdish security official says, the latest mass release of captives by the extremists. Gen. Hiwa Abdullah says most of the freed 216 prisoners are in poor health and bear signs of abuse and...

'They Did Bad Things:' ISIS Releases 200 Yazidis

Mostly elderly, in poor health, showing signs of abuse

(Newser) - The Islamic State group released about 200 Yazidis held for five months in Iraq, mostly elderly, infirm captives who likely slowed the extremists down, Kurdish military officials said today. Almost all of the freed prisoners are in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect. Three were young children....

This Is the Woman Most Wanted by ISIS

Iraqi lawmaker Vian Dakhil is fighting to save her Yazidi sect

(Newser) - Vian Dakhil is a 43-year-old member of Iraqi's parliament who also happens to be at the top of the Islamic State's death list, writes Abigail Haworth in a profile for Marie Claire . Dakhil is one of only two representatives in parliament of the Yazidi sect, one that ISIS...

ISIS Captives Face 'Harrowing' Sexual Violence
ISIS Captives 'Shattered' by Rape, Slavery, Torture
NEW REPORT

ISIS Captives 'Shattered' by Rape, Slavery, Torture

Yazidi women face 'harrowing' sexual violence: Amnesty International

(Newser) - Hundreds, perhaps thousands of Yazidi women captured by ISIS have been subjected to horrifyingly brutal and degrading treatment from their captors, according to a hard-hitting new Amnesty International report. The victims "have had their lives shattered by the horrors of sexual violence and sexual slavery," says an Amnesty...

Kurds Break ISIS Mountain Siege

Yazidis still on Sinjar can now flee

(Newser) - Iraqi Kurdish forces battling ISIS militants managed to open up a key corridor yesterday so that thousands of people from the country's Yazidi minority who have been trapped on a mountain can flee, a senior Kurdish official says. The development was an incremental step in the battle to retake...

Yazidi Girl Given as Gift to ISIS Recounts Escape

'Narin' tells Post journalist: 'I still have nightmares'

(Newser) - A 14-year-old Yazidi girl, captured and given as a gift to ISIS members, recounted her tale of escape to journalist Mohammed A. Salih in the Washington Post . The girl Salih calls "Narin" and her family were among the thousands of Yazidis who fled ISIS fighters to Mount Sinjar in...

ISIS Sells Women Into Marriage for $1K Each: Report

The Islamic State considers Yazidi women 'spoils of war': report

(Newser) - The Islamic State has "distributed" about 300 Yazidi women to its jihadist fighters as spoils of war, CNN reports. The Islamic State, or ISIS, kidnapped the women when it attacked Yazidi villages and forced tens of thousands to flee earlier this month, according to a British group monitoring the...

Pope Backs Action in Iraq, Wants UN OK

Pontiff says Islamic State militants must be stopped

(Newser) - Pope Francis, the guy probably least likely on the planet to come out in favor of military action, today did precisely that, telling reporters aboard his plane that he had no problem with the use of force to stop Islamic State militants in Iraq from slaughtering the Yazidi minority. "...

'At Least I'm Alive': Inside a Deadly Iraq 'Copter Crash

Helicopter went down trying to save Yazidis

(Newser) - A crashing helicopter full of Yazidi refugees goes down too quickly to describe—so Alissa Rubin, a veteran New York Times reporter, writes more about the others on board during the crash this week . Yazidi member of Parliament Vian Dakhil, who had given a "heart-rending" speech advocating the rescue...

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