Yazidi women: Perpetrators of genocide still not held to account

Witnesses of the Shengal massacre, the Yazidi women have spoken. The women stated that the perpetrators still haven’t been brought to justice, 4 years after the massacre.

Two Yazidi women, both witnesses of the ISIS genocide of August 3, 2014 in Shengal, spoke about those days. The women said the people who led the way to the massacre still haven’t been held to account.

A witness to the massacre, Sheme Remo said the following on those days: “ISIS gangs suddenly started a raid. With the limited defenses we had, we held out until 8 in the morning. Thousands of Yazidis sought refuge in the Shengal Mountain in an attempt to save themselves.”

Remo also spoke about the KDP peshmerga forces, who didn’t fight against the gangs: “KDP abandoned us. The KDP forces were the reason thousands of our women and young girls were abducted. I witnessed the gangs abduct women and girls in the Siba Şêx Xidir village. They killed 180 people in front of us. We couldn’t do anything.”

Xezal Hesen said: “KDP peshmerga didn’t believe that ISIS gangs could come to Shengal. And then they abandoned us. And they betrayed us as they left. We will never forget this treason. On the way to the mountain many Yazidis were captured by ISIS. Women were abducted and men were killed.”

Hesen said the perpetrators still haven’t been held to account, despite the 4 years since the massacre, that thousands of Yazidi women are still at the hands of the gangs and that nobody is trying to rescue them.