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People of Iraq need security, UN Secretary General

Aug 15, 2014 News, Secretary General, United Nations , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

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People of Iraq need security, UN Secretary General

By La Shawn Pagán

As members of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) continue to terrorize Yazidis and

trapping non-ISIS sympathizers in Mount Sinjar, reports of escalating violence in the area has caused

the Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon to ask the international community to pay more attention to

what’s happening in the Middle Eastern country.

“The people of Iraq – all Iraqi people – need security,” the Secretary General told members of the

press at the daily noon briefing at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. “Yet the poison of

hatred and brutality is spreading.”

Since ISIS invaded Sinjar on August 3, the Yazidis that have managed to escape said the only

options given to those who are caught were to convert to Islam or die. On August 10, Mohammed

Shia al-Sudani Iraq’s Human Rights Minister told Reuters that there was evidence that an estimated

500 Yazidis had been executed. Many of which were women and children.

In addition, ISIS media has posted photos of some of these executions online – the images of about

20 executed men were shown with a quote from the Qur’an that read “slay them where you catch

them.”

The ancient Yazidi religion has been a subject of mystery, causing for a centuries-old mass

persecution of what Islamic extremist have dubbed as “devil worshipers.”

Moreover, on August 12, a helicopter carrying aid from Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous government

crashed in the Sinjar Mountains, killing the pilot and injuring several passengers that included a

Yazidi member of the Iraqi Parliament and two New York Times Journalists. According to reports

by Kurdish News Media, Vian Dakhil, who helped draw attention to the plight of the Yazidi people

in Iraq, was in the aircraft. His condition is unknown.

“The plight of the Yazidis and others in Mount Sinjar is especially harrowing,” said the Secretary

General – adding that “when people manage to find a way out, they remain exposed to soaring heat

and a perilous odyssey.”

“I urge the international community to do even more to provide the protection they need. And I

condemn tin the strongest possible terms, the systematic persecution of individuals from minority

populations and those who refuse the extremist ideology of IS.”

ENW/LSP

Photo by Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire


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