Iraqi forces arrest ISIS mufti responsible for sanctioning torture and rape against Ezidis

Iraq’s Defense Ministry on Monday announced the arrest of an “Islamic scholar,” or “Mufti,” allegedly responsible for the torture and rape of Yezidi (Ezidi) women during the Islamic State’s (IS) occupation of Sinjar (Shingal) town in 2014.

He was arrested in a security operation carried out by Iraqi intelligence services, in cooperation with the Nineveh Operations Command, in the town of Kairawan, 25 kilometers southeast of Shingal.

“This terrorist was responsible for issuing the orders of torture and rape against the Ezidi people,” the Defense Ministry claimed in a statement.

It mentioned that the Mufti was apprehended according to an arrest warrant based on the anti-terrorism law.

The Ministry did not reveal his identity.

Prior to the 2014 attack, there were roughly 550,000 Ezidis in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. As the jihadist group took over large swaths of territory in Nineveh Province, 360,000 Ezidis escaped violence and found refuge elsewhere, with most of them ending up in the Kurdistan Region, according to the Ezidi Rescue Office in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.

Over the past few years, the rescue office has reportedly freed 3,334 Ezidis, with 3,084 more said to remain in captivity.

The community suffered atrocities and mass executions at the hands of the extremist group for years after IS overran Shingal, forcing a majority of them to flee their homes. Others were not as lucky and remained stranded in the war zone.

IS subjected thousands of women to sexual slavery and kidnapped scores of children, forced religious conversions, executed many men and also abused, sold, and trafficked girls across areas they controlled in Iraq and Syria.

Source: Kurdistan 24