Following the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Iraq in April, the Baghdad government stepped up its efforts to criminalise the institutions and members of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of Shengal (Sinjar) in northern Iraq.

Xideyir Salih (Ebu Seger), a member of the Shengal Democratic Autonomous Council and co-chairman of the Bîrcarî People's Council, also a pioneering figure for the coexistence of peoples in Shengal, was detained by Iraqi forces on 28 May on the grounds that he ‘opposed the death sentence given to a Yazidi citizen and violated Iraqi law’. The Mosul Criminal Court sentenced the Yazidi citizen Xêro Belo to death for allegedly committing crimes against the Arab people in the region after the attacks of ISIS.

The Yazidi people and the components living under the umbrella of the Autonomous Administration reacted to the sentence and asked the Mosul Criminal Court to review its decision and to impose the same penalties on ISIS members.

Ebu Seger called the death sentence an attempt to create conflict between the Arab and Yazidi peoples. Following a Mosul court order, Iraqi intelligence forces raided Ebu Seger's house on 28 May.

According to villagers and eyewitnesses, Ebu Seger was detained from his house under torture and taken to Mosul.

According to a source in the Mosul Court, Ebu Seger was detained for making a statement against the court's decision and for being a member of the Democratic Autonomous Council of Shengal. The same source reported that Ebu Seger lost consciousness under torture in Mosul.

It is not yet known when Ebu Seger will be brought to court and what the verdict will be.

This initiative is considered as an attempt by the Iraqi forces to distance the Arab people from the Yazidi people and to defame the Autonomous Administration of Shengal.

Ebu Seger, a friend of the Yazidi people, is known as a person who managed to be a bridge between the Arab and Yazidi peoples.

These actions taken by Iraq in Shengal are seen as a result of the Sudanese government's agreement with the occupying Turkish state.