U.N. rights chief condemns Islamic State war crimes in Iraq
Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah
August 25, 2014
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay Monday condemned "appalling, widespread" crimes being committed by Islamic State (IS) forces in Iraq, including mass executions of prisoners and "ethnic and religious cleansing".
Up to 670 inmates from Badush prison in the city of Mosul were reportedly killed by the militants on 10 June, Pillay said in a statement on Monday, in which she cited the accounts of some 20 survivors and 16 witnesses.
“They are systematically targeting men, women and children based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation and are ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under their control.” Pillay said
After the Al-Qaeda splinter group seized control of Mosul on June 10, it loaded up to 1,500 prisoners from the city’s Badush prison onto trucks and took them to a vacant area for screening, Pillay said. Sunni inmates were taken away again on the trucks.
“[ISIS] gunmen then yelled insults at the remaining prisoners, lined them up in four rows, ordered them to kneel and opened fire,” she said, adding that up to 670 inmates lost their lives.
Christians, Yazidis and Turkmen were among the minorities targeted by the militants.
Hundreds of members of the Yazidi community in Nineveh have been killed and up to 2,500 were kidnapped at the beginning of August. And in Cotcho village in Southern Sinjar on 15 August, hundreds more Yazidis were killed and abducted.
TheISIS, which has captured large areas of Syria and Iraq, see Shia Muslims and minorities such as Christians and Yazidis, a Kurdish ethno-religious community, as infidels. ISIS has called on the Yazidi community to either convert to Islam or accept being killed.
Nearly 40,000 Yazidis are trapped on the top of Mount Sinjar with few resources; many with just the clothes on their back, U.S. President Barack Obama said in an address late Thursday evening.
Initial reports say that hundreds of Yazidis have been killed by ISIS and that dozens of children have died of thirst.
The Yazidis are not the only religious minority threatened by the Islamic State. Thousands of Christians have fled Mosul since the extremists captured the city in early June.
The ISIS has also given Christians another option if they want to remain in Iraq: To pay jizya. Jizya is a tax that Muslim empires imposed upon non-Muslim constituents in return for military exemption, protection against persecution, and considerable religious freedoms.
The strongest argument against ISIS persecution of Christians is the fact that such actions are in direct violation of the Prophet Muhammad’s own treaties with Christians in which he guarantees the protection of religious freedom and other rights.
Sources
www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=384670
www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Aug-26/268490-un-rights-chief-isis-actions-in-iraq-likely-war-crimes.ashx#axzz3BUIPYZMK
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-execution-of-hundreds-of-shia-prisoners-amounts-to-war-crimes-un-claims-9690176.html
August 25, 2014
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay Monday condemned "appalling, widespread" crimes being committed by Islamic State (IS) forces in Iraq, including mass executions of prisoners and "ethnic and religious cleansing".
Up to 670 inmates from Badush prison in the city of Mosul were reportedly killed by the militants on 10 June, Pillay said in a statement on Monday, in which she cited the accounts of some 20 survivors and 16 witnesses.
“They are systematically targeting men, women and children based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation and are ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under their control.” Pillay said
After the Al-Qaeda splinter group seized control of Mosul on June 10, it loaded up to 1,500 prisoners from the city’s Badush prison onto trucks and took them to a vacant area for screening, Pillay said. Sunni inmates were taken away again on the trucks.
“[ISIS] gunmen then yelled insults at the remaining prisoners, lined them up in four rows, ordered them to kneel and opened fire,” she said, adding that up to 670 inmates lost their lives.
Christians, Yazidis and Turkmen were among the minorities targeted by the militants.
Hundreds of members of the Yazidi community in Nineveh have been killed and up to 2,500 were kidnapped at the beginning of August. And in Cotcho village in Southern Sinjar on 15 August, hundreds more Yazidis were killed and abducted.
TheISIS, which has captured large areas of Syria and Iraq, see Shia Muslims and minorities such as Christians and Yazidis, a Kurdish ethno-religious community, as infidels. ISIS has called on the Yazidi community to either convert to Islam or accept being killed.
Nearly 40,000 Yazidis are trapped on the top of Mount Sinjar with few resources; many with just the clothes on their back, U.S. President Barack Obama said in an address late Thursday evening.
Initial reports say that hundreds of Yazidis have been killed by ISIS and that dozens of children have died of thirst.
The Yazidis are not the only religious minority threatened by the Islamic State. Thousands of Christians have fled Mosul since the extremists captured the city in early June.
The ISIS has also given Christians another option if they want to remain in Iraq: To pay jizya. Jizya is a tax that Muslim empires imposed upon non-Muslim constituents in return for military exemption, protection against persecution, and considerable religious freedoms.
The strongest argument against ISIS persecution of Christians is the fact that such actions are in direct violation of the Prophet Muhammad’s own treaties with Christians in which he guarantees the protection of religious freedom and other rights.
Sources
www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=384670
www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Aug-26/268490-un-rights-chief-isis-actions-in-iraq-likely-war-crimes.ashx#axzz3BUIPYZMK
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-execution-of-hundreds-of-shia-prisoners-amounts-to-war-crimes-un-claims-9690176.html
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