Yezidi woman's testimony haunts 10th anniversary of genocide: two daughters chose suicide over enslavement

Shafaq News/ A Yezidi woman has recounted the horrific ordeal of her family during the 2014 ISIS genocide in a heart-wrenching testimony delivered on the 10th anniversary of the atrocities.

Daia Shammi, who attended a ceremony in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, on Saturday, detailed how she lost 33 family members, including 10 young women who were kidnapped by ISIS.

Speaking at an event attended by Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, Shammi praised the president for his efforts in rescuing and returning 10 of her nieces and daughters. However, she revealed the devastating loss of her other daughters who chose suicide over enslavement.

“One of my daughters came to me and said, ‘Mother, they sold me to an ISIS emir and I don’t want to go, I want to kill myself,’” Shammi recounted. “I tried to calm her down, but she insisted. After a few days, when they took her to Baaj and dressed her in a wedding dress, she cut her wrist and died.”

The woman continued, her face etched with sorrow, “Then I heard that my other daughter, Jihan, had also committed suicide. At that point, I said, ‘Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God) for everything.’”

Between 2014 and 2017, the extremist group targeted the Yazidis, a religious minority, in a systematic campaign of genocide, killing thousands and enslaving women and children.

The 10th anniversary of the genocide has prompted renewed calls for justice and accountability. Shammi appealed to both the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to intensify their efforts to find the remaining Yazidis who are still missing.

On August 3, 2014, ISIS extremists arrived in Sinjar, northern Iraq, and began trying to eliminate the Yazidis, a predominantly Kurdish-speaking ethno-religious group that ISIS considered heretical.

ISIS killed men and boys and sold women into slavery or forced them to convert and marry militants. Many others fled.

Ten years on, some Yazidis have returned to Sinjar. But despite their homeland’s deep emotional and religious significance, many see no future there.

They say there is no money to rebuild homes and infrastructure in a landscape still haunted by horrific memories, where armed groups are still present.

Prime Minister Mohammed Al Sudani said in a statement that his cabinet is working to “guarantee all rights” of those who have suffered from terrorism.

Iraqi forces are still pursuing the remnants of terrorism, he said, in reference to ISIS sleeper cells across the country.

The presence of an estimated 50,000 ISIS fighters and their families across the border in Syria in detention centers and camps stokes fears among the Yazidi of history repeating itself.

ISIS killed an estimated 5,000 Yazidis and abducted an estimated 6,800 Yazidis, predominantly women and children. Around 2,600 women and girls are still held in captivity in Iraq, Syria, and other countries almost 10 years later, with no proper institutionalized mechanism to rescue them.

The destruction of Yazidi religious and cultural sites, farms, and homes has forced the displacement of an estimated 400,000 Yazidis from the Sinjar district.

More than 200,000 are displaced living in camps in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region only hours away from their homeland.

ISIS also hunted and killed members of other minority groups in the area, including the Shabak, Turkmen, and Christians.

President Nechirvan Barzani said the genocide was a “turning point” in the history of Iraq and Kurdistan.

“We assure all Yazidi brothers and sisters that the work of the office to rescue the kidnapped Yazidis will continue until all are rescued,” he said during a ceremony in Erbil. 

He called on the Iraqi government to work with the Kurdistan Regional Government to ensure the implementation of the Sinjar agreement and that the welfare of the Yazidis should be their priority.