Posted on 04/04/2016 6:40:49 PM PDT by markomalley
Janet and Immanuel decided to speak about their daughter Mary, who had been captured by the Islamic State more than a year ago. They sat together holding a large photo of the entire family, whose surname they preferred to withhold.
Eyes filled with tears, Janet said in a sad voice, “This picture was taken a month before she was captured. We were attending a concert and she insisted that we take a group photo. She looked stunning that night.”
Mary’s family is from the area of Tal Shamiram, in the southwest neighborhood of Tell Tamer, in Hasaka city, where she was captured along with 234 others, including her parents, by IS militants. The abduction followed a major IS offensive on Assyrian villages at dawn on Feb. 23, 2015.
On Nov. 7, 2015, IS freed 37 Christians, including Immanuel, after nine months of detention. He told Al-Monitor that prior to his release, he “asked IS officials about my wife and Mary, but to no avail.” He contented himself with believing that they would soon be freed as well.
On Dec. 25, 2015, IS released another 25 Assyrians, mostly women and children. Janet was among them. She said, “They called my name, but Mary’s name was not among those who would be released. I passed out. Later on, I insisted on staying there with her until we were both freed.” But IS did not grant her request and said that Mary and the other detainees will be released once a deal is concluded.
Janet said that IS is still holding seven Assyrians, including her daughter, and asking for a higher ransom for them. She said, “When I was held by IS, the militants used to tell us that we would be freed once our relatives pay the ransom.”
The BBC Arabic site quoted Talia Younan of the Assyrian Democratic Organization as telling the Associated Press Feb. 22 that the release came after mediation led by an unnamed senior Assyrian priest. Younan reported that IS demanded “a ransom of $18 million for the Assyrian Christians, and that the figure was later lowered following negotiations.” No one knows the final figure paid to IS.
Janet is afraid that Mary might be raped or forced to marry during her detention. She said, “This has caused Mary extreme panic attacks and continuous treatment at the hospital.” She went on, “She is by herself now, and I wonder how she is doing without me by her side.”
Immanuel said they know nothing about their captured daughter, who has been kept prisoner for a year and one month now.
The United States has labeled IS crimes as genocide against Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims. US Secretary of State John Kerry said March 17, “IS is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.”
Tens of thousands of Kurds and Yazidis have been displaced following IS offensives on their areas in Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq in August 2014. Thousands of people were besieged for several months, while others were massacred. The fate of many men, young people and children is still unknown.
Susan, a Kurdish Yazidi from the Sinjar Mountains in Iraq who gave only her first name, told Al-Monitor about being captured by IS. She said, “I was captured in the summer of 2015, and I was sold in a slave market in Mosul.” She said that IS sorted women by age, and then based on whether they were single, married, or had one child or more.
She said, “I will never forget those moments as long as I live. They brought me to Raqqa and forced me to marry a Saudi national, who was an IS emir.” Susan was already married and the mother of a baby girl. She said that she has learned nothing about her family since her capture.
Susan managed to escape after a year of terror and fear, having begged the emir’s first wife for help. “She had pity for me, because I am married and I’m looking for my child. She helped me get out of Raqqa.”
She finally managed to reach an area under Kurdish control in Aleppo, in northern Syria. From there she went on to Afrin and to Nowruz Camp in al-Malikiyah, in the northeast of Hasaka city. When she learned that the US administration considered IS crimes to be genocide, she said, “The ordeal the residents of my village went through cannot be limited to a statement or discourse. Tough measures need to be taken.”
Sevan (a pseudonym), an Armenian woman from the village of Ain al-Arous in the Tell Abyad district bordering Turkey, said that she will never forget the image of IS seizing her village. IS militants beheaded three youths for fighting against the organization. She said, “They forced the residents to watch the show trial and hung their heads at the main entrance to the village.”
Accusations against IS include mass killings and other crimes in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq. Kerry said, “The lack of access to key areas has made it impossible to develop a fully detailed and comprehensive picture of all that IS is doing and all that it has done.”
I dunno. The President says we should worry more about falling down in the tub.
Does that mean they'll start admitting Christian refugees fleeing the genocide?
“So the regime finally admits that ISLAMic State is committing genocide against Christians.”
Not JUST Christians, though, of course.
Obama administration recognizes ISIS killings as genocide
Secretary of State John Kerry declared Thursday that the Islamic State is committing genocide against Christians and other minorities in the Middle East, after facing heavy pressure from lawmakers and rights groups to make the rare designation.
“In my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in territory under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims,” Kerry said at the State Department, referring to the terror group by an adapted acronym of its Arabic name.
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