“ISIS militants” have phoned and promised the family of a policeman they had kidnapped in Diyala Province (and whom they now hold hostage) to “so something for them.”
The policeman is named Jalal Baban. He is 40 years old. He was kidnapped November 2019 at a village in Diyala’s Qara-Tapa subdistrict. They have contacted his family several times, demanding to be handed over an Ezidi woman they had kidnapped in 2014, but was rescued mid-2017, in exchange for his release.
The Ezidi woman is 23-year-old Hala Mahlu Ravo. After she was rescued, she was imprisoned in Erbil until the end of August this year. KRG officials claim she had lost her memory and didn’t remember her name and her Ezidi background.
A few days after the release of Hala Mahlu from prison, ISIS militants phoned us and before anything else, they asked about the Ezidi girl
Fatih Jasim, one of the kidnapped policeman’s relatives, told KirkukNow: “A few days after the release of Hala Mahlu from prison, ISIS militants phoned us and before anything else, they asked about the Ezidi girl. We told them that the girl was released on 23 August and went back to her family.
During the phone call we asked them to change the condition for releasing Jalal Baban from the hand over of Hala Mahlu to a sum of money, but they didn’t say anything except that they would do something.”
Baban’s family now waits for the “ISIS militants” to accept money for his release, but they haven’t given an answer yet.
We have tried several times to contact them, but the phone number is not functioning
Fatih Jasim added: “Since the release of the Ezidi girl, they have called only once. We have tried several times to contact them, but the phone number is not functioning.”
Before Hala was released from the Erbil prison, the militants had given the policeman’s family 10 days for the exchange to happen.
“We don’t know what to do, we await God’s mercy to open a door for us and Jalal gets released,” said Fatih Jasim.
