Shengal: 90 mass graves found, over 500 Yazidi Kurds still unidentified in morgues
Iraq's Martyrs' Foundation says 85 of the 90 mass graves uncovered in Shengal have been documented, but only 300 Yazidi Kurd bodies have been returned to families. More graves may still be undiscovered, the agency says.
RastinewsAbdulilah Naili, head of Iraq's Martyrs' Foundation, told the Iraqi newspaper Al-Sabah that 90 mass graves have been identified in Shengal, left behind by ISIS's 2014 massacre of Yazidi Kurds.
Naili said examination and documentation have been completed at 85 of those sites, with roughly 700 bodies exhumed so far. The remains were sent for forensic examination.
Only 300 families have been able to bury their dead
Naili said the Forensic Medicine Institute has identified and returned 300 Yazidi Kurd bodies to their families. Work continues at the remaining five mass graves.
He added that other mass graves in Shengal may still be undiscovered or unopened, meaning the case file remains open.
"Forensic teams have fallen short"
The slow pace of identification has drawn criticism from Yazidi representatives. Murad Ismael, head of the Yazidi Cause Alliance and an Iraqi MP, criticized forensic authorities at a burial ceremony for 25 Yazidi Kurds in Shengal on October 1.
"A family's right to bury their loved ones is among the most basic rights tied to human dignity," Ismael said. "But forensic teams have fallen short. More than 500 bodies of Yazidi Genocide victims remain held in forensic morgues."
The 25 people buried that day were the ninth group whose identification was completed and whose remains were handed over to their families.
The 73rd Ferman
ISIS attacked Shengal on August 3, 2014, after seizing Mosul. Hundreds of Yazidi Kurds were killed in mass killings, and more than 6,000 people, most of them women and children, were abducted.
Women and girls were enslaved by ISIS, while boys were forced into fighting. Yazidi Kurds refer to this genocide as the 73rd Ferman.
According to the Office to Rescue Abducted Yazidis, 1,500 Yazidi Kurds were killed by firing squad. Roughly 2,500 of those abducted remain unaccounted for.
Liberation and recognition
Shengal was cleared of ISIS on November 13, 2015, in a joint operation backed by International Coalition airstrikes. In 2019, the Kurdistan Region government declared August 3 "Yazidi Genocide Day."
The European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations, along with the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Canada, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, Armenia, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, have formally recognized the Yazidi Ferman as genocide.