Published 17:35 IST, October 31st 2019
Baghdadi's death is not enough, says Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad
Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad says the death of IS leader Baghdadi in a US raid was not enough to compensate for the atrocities committed by his terror group.
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The death of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a US raid was not enough to compensate for the atrocities committed by his terror group, said Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad in a statement on Wednesday. Her statement comes after President Donald Trump confirmed Baghdadi's death in a US raid in northwestern Syria.
The Nobel Laureate is the founder of Nadia's Initiative, an organization dedicated to helping women and children who are victims of genocide, mass atrocities, and human trafficking to heal and rebuild their lives and communities. She was awarded Nobel Prize in 2018 jointly with Denis Mukwege for their "efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war".
Responding to Baghdadi's death, Murad said that the Yazidis like her do not wish to see people like Baghdadi getting killed, they want justice.
Murad is a survivor of ISIS' atrocities
Murad survived three months of captivity in Iraq in 2014 at the hands of ISIS. She was kidnapped from her hometown Kocho and held captive by the Islamic State. In 2012, the terror group rounded up and shot the Yazidi community in the village, killing 600 people including six of Nadia's brothers and stepbrothers, while the younger women and girls were used as slaves. Around 6,700 Yazidi women and girls were taken prisoners by IS in Iraq including Murad. She was held as a slave in the city of Mosul, where she was beaten, burned with cigarettes, and raped before she managed to flee from her captor. She managed to free herself from the clutches of the terror group and took refuge in a refugee camp in Duhok, northern Iraq. In 2015, she benefitted from a refugee programme of the Government of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, which became her new home.
There are thousands like Baghdadi who could bring upon the same chaos: Murad
Iraq and Syria were seized by ISIS in 2014 establishing a caliphate under al-Baghdadi, which has since crumbled under a US-led offensive. Murad spoke to several Yazidi survivors about Baghdadi's death before giving her statement at the UN. She said that the survivors said that only Baghdadi was killed, other terrorists from his terror group who still have their girls and children are still alive. Morad added that there are thousands like Baghdadi who are capable of doing as much damage as the IS leader. They want justice and action against them as well, she concluded.
12:34 IST, October 31st 2019