In Pictures

Gallery|Humanitarian Crises

Yazidis released by ISIL seek religious cleansing

Hundreds of Yazidis have gathered in Iraq’s holy centre of Lalish, struggling to recover after months in captivity.

Save

Last month, 196 members of the Yazidi minority religion were released after being held captive by ISIL. They were kidnapped in early August when ISIL tore through northern Iraq.
By Cathy Otten and Ali Arkady
Published On 7 Feb 2015

Lalish village, Iraq – In the holy centre of Lalish in northern Iraq, hundreds of sick, elderly and weak Yazidis gather, kissing the hand of Sheikh Hussein as he welcomes them home after their ordeal at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Doctors weave among the sick and injured, taking blood samples and trying to reassure them. Some believe ISIL fighters are still holding them, and lash out. One woman cannot remember her own name.

Kidnapped in early August along with thousands of other Yazidis, they were released for unknown reasons last month. ISIL fighters, citing a belief that Yazidis worship the devil, massacred hundreds of members of the minority religion when they swept through northern Iraq last summer.

Yazidi leaders say the new arrivals should come to the holy temple in Lalish and be “cleansed” after ISIL forced them to convert to Islam, but for some, it is clear that adjusting to life as it was before may be impossible.

Morad Barakat, 4, Meyan Faris, 35, and Aryan Barakat, 8, arrived in Lalish after five months in captivity with ISIL. Meyan's four other children, two boys and two girls, and her husband were all taken by ISIL and she does not know where they are. She believes her daughters, 20 and 10 years of age, were sold into marriage and are now being held in Syria.
Advertisement
Morad is suffering from leishmaniasis, caused by sand fly bites.
Gulistan Hero, 20, fled her home near Sinjar and reached safety in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. She came to Lalish to be reunited with her parents, who were kept in captivity by ISIL for five months. A month ago, she says she attempted suicide, but is now thankful to be reunited with her parents.
Gulistan reassures her father, Hero Qasm, 65, and her mother, Meyadad Nechman, 36. She believed her parents were dead until she saw them on a TV news report about the hostages who were released.
Released hostages cry and embrace relatives after five months in ISIL captivity.
A woman who cannot remember her name covers her face with a scarf and waits to be reunited with her family after her release by ISIL. She was held for five months.
Advertisement
Yazidis visit a spring of holy water inside the temple in Lalish in northern Iraq. Yazidis who were taken by ISIL come to be cleansed in the sacred water.
A young Yazidi man guards the holy temple in Lalish. He is responsible for a special kind of prayer, which involves throwing a red cloth onto a stone for good luck.
Yazidis pray at the door of the holy Yazidi temple in Lalish.
Yazidis released by ISIL return from prayers and blessings in the holy town of Lalish.
A Yazidi man in a wheelchair is taken into his family car after being released by ISIL. He came to the holy town of Lalish to be blessed and to eat with fellow Yazidis a day after his release.