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Tragedy of the Yazidi people: a testimony
June 23, 201710:00 a.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Ambassadors’ Hall (at Calle Alcalá, 62). First floor.
10:00 a.m.
Prior registration.
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In Kurmanji Kurdish, with consecutive translation into Spanish
Casa Árabe and the Representative in Spain of the Regional Government of
Iraqi Kurdistan have organized this event with Lamia Haji Bachar, an
activist who defends the rights of the Yazidi people.
A new study published in the weekly journal PLOS Medicine in May 2017 concluded that approximately 9,900 Yazidis were murdered or captured in a matter of days in August of 2014. According to the United Nations, about 3,200 Yazidis remain in the hands of Jihadists. Analysts warn that the true magnitude of the genocide committed against the Yazidi people by the combatants of Daesh during their brutal siege of Mount Sinjar in Iraq cannot be properly assessed as long as thousands of people remain in captivity.
Lamia Haji Bachar was kidnapped by the self-proclaimed Islamic State during the siege of the Iraqi town of Kocho on August 15, 2014. At the young age of just 16, Lamia witnessed the murder of many of her closest family members and was kept as a slave for 20 months before she escaped in April 2016. Because she fled through a mine field, Lamia suffered major injuries and lost her right eye.
She currently lives in Germany, where she is receiving medical treatment to recover from her injuries and she has become an activist who defends the Yazidi people, becoming “a voice for the voiceless.” In October of 2016, along with Nadia Murad, she was awarded with the prestigious Sakharov Prize given by the European Parliament for freedom of thought. Her dream is to become a primary school teacher.
At the end of the event, Mirza Dinnayi, a former advisor to Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, will be introducing the NGO Ezidi House, which he himself founded as a result of the urgent call for help from Iraq in late 2007, in the city of Osnabrück, Germany.
Lamia Haji Bachar was kidnapped by the self-proclaimed Islamic State during the siege of the Iraqi town of Kocho on August 15, 2014. At the young age of just 16, Lamia witnessed the murder of many of her closest family members and was kept as a slave for 20 months before she escaped in April 2016. Because she fled through a mine field, Lamia suffered major injuries and lost her right eye.
She currently lives in Germany, where she is receiving medical treatment to recover from her injuries and she has become an activist who defends the Yazidi people, becoming “a voice for the voiceless.” In October of 2016, along with Nadia Murad, she was awarded with the prestigious Sakharov Prize given by the European Parliament for freedom of thought. Her dream is to become a primary school teacher.
At the end of the event, Mirza Dinnayi, a former advisor to Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, will be introducing the NGO Ezidi House, which he himself founded as a result of the urgent call for help from Iraq in late 2007, in the city of Osnabrück, Germany.
