Shingal Self-Administration Council: Islamic State fighters should be prosecuted under anti-terrorism law

Ninewa- A press conference for members of the Self-Administration Council in Shingal (Sinjar), April 2019 Photo: KirkukNow

Ibrahim Ezidi- Ninewa

The self-administration Council in Shingal (Sinjar) has called for compensation of affected Ezidis and stress that all detained Islamic State (IS) militants should be prosecuted.

The demands of the council which considers itself part of the Iraqi federal government was laid out in a statement addressing the public opinion in Iraq and the world, as the fate of thousands of kidnapped by IS remained unknown despite the defeat of the group in Syria.

 The statement referred to the crimes committed by IS against the Ezidi population including mass slaughter, kidnapping and enslavement of Ezidis, besides the forcible recruitment of Ezidi children in the group.

The Self-Administration Council urges the international community, human rights organizations, the Iraqi government and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to file lawsuits against the perpetrators those affiliated with them in their crimes against religious minorities in Shingal, Ninewa Plains and other areas.

The council has emphasized that those who become convicted should be prosecuted under the anti-terrorism law after they are referred to Iraqi courts.

The council has also called for the compensation of affected Ezidis and the victims’ families.

 On March 23, 2019, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) backed by the Global Coalition against IS declared the end of the group in Syria following 5 years of fighting which concluded after thy controlled IS’s last territorial pocket in Baghouz in eastern Syria.

During the final battle which continued for 40 days, more than 200 Ezidis held captive by the group were freed.

The Ezidi community was subjected to numerous atrocities at the hands of IS militants after they swept into Shingal in August 2014.

An estimated 6,417 Ezidi were kidnapped; the fate of nearly 3,000 of them remains unknown.

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