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