The city of Shengal (Sinjar) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is the last contiguous settlement area of the Yazidi community. Thousands of Yazidis were murdered, and thousands of women and children were taken prisoner in the 3 August 2014 onslaught on Shengal by ISIS militants. While ISIS began murdering Yazidis in Shengal, the Peshmerga left, leaving the Yazidis behind, unprotected. The guerrillas of HPG (People’s Defense Forces) and YJA Star (Free Women’s Troops) and fighters of the YPG (People’s Defense Units) and YPJ (Women’s Defense Units) came to the Yazidi people’s aid in the face of ISIS aggression. Thanks to a months-long selfless struggle, the city was liberated on 13 November 2015. After the liberation of the city, the HPG and YPG/YPJ subsequently withdrew in 2017. People who returned to their land after Shengal’s independence reformed, established defensive units and built their institutions.
The fate of thousands of Yazidis, especially women, remains unknown. Many were sold in slave markets established by ISIS in cities such as Raqqa, Mosul, Deir ez-Zor, and Al-Bukamal. SDF forces have successfully liberated thousands of them, reuniting them to their families in Shengal.
Countless victims of the ISIS massacres in the city eleven years ago were buried in mass graves. Although the Iraqi government began opening mass graves in 2019, many have yet to be opened. Several families are still waiting for the work to begin so they can get back the remains of their loved ones.
So far, 100 mass and individual graves have been discovered, only 55 of which have been opened. 750 bodies have been exhumed from the graves that have been opened so far, but only 264 have been identified.
The remains of 22 people who were identified through DNA testing have been handed over to their families after eleven years.
Of the 22 bodies identified, four are female and 18 are male. Ten are from Kocho village, two from Tilizer, two from Qin, two from Solax, two from Hamedan and Herdan, and four from villages around Shengal.
The remains were retrieved from the Mosul Forensic Medicine Institute yesterday and taken to Shengal where a ceremony has been held today prior to handover and burial.
Thousands of people from all over the region attended the ceremony, including the Yazidi Spiritual Council, the Shengal Autonomous Administration, TAJÊ (Yazidi Women’s Freedom Movement), and political, social, and military officials. The ceremony began with a minute of silence and religious hymns.
Speaking on behalf of the families of the martyrs, Nayif Caso announced their demands. These include accelerating the identification of bodies awaiting at the Baghdad Forensic Medicine Institute, establishing a clear plan for unopened mass graves, organizing dignified ceremonies for the martyrs and their families, increasing international support, and clarifying the fate of 67 bodies reportedly buried irregularly by the ruling KDP.
Caso said, “The bodies of our martyrs, which are reaching us piece by piece every day, convey the message that justice is lacking, that rights have not yet been granted, and that the decree of exterminationis still in effect. From here, before the monument and the remains of our martyrs, we once again declare that the honor of our martyrs is greater than the honor of the living. The identification of every martyr, their burial in peace and honor in their own village and soil, is their most basic right.”
After the ceremony, the remains were taken by their families and buried in cemeteries in the villages and districts of Shengal.
Source: ANF News
