11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Increasing tensions between Yezidi and Muslim communities in 2007 ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23806]

"Members of the Yazidi community reported that they continued to be targeted by Islamists throughout the year. Since a Yazidi girl was stoned to death by her community in April for eloping with a Muslim man and converting to Islam, tensions between the communities increased. On April 22, gunmen hijacked the bus of and killed 23 members of the small Yazidi sect in the Mosul region. The killings were believed to be revenge for the stoning."

Document(s): Open document

12.2007 - Source: UN Assistance Mission for Iraq

2 Yezifi men abducted and killed in Northern governorate; over 300 killed in suicide blast in Niniveh governorate ("Human Rights Report (1 July - 31 December 2007)") [ID 24635]

"Incidents linked to Iraq’s Yezidi minority living in the northern governorates continued to be reported. On 14 August, four days after their abduction by unknown persons, Kirkuk police found the bodies of two Yezidi men who had travelled from Ba’shiqa to Kirkuk to market olives. According to accounts received, they were bludgeoned to death with stones, and may have been part of a series of retaliatory incidents recorded in the aftermath of the April killing of a Yezidi girl, Du'aa Aswad Khalil.45 Later that evening, three suicide trucks carrying large amounts of explosives targeted poor Yezidi residential areas al-Qahtaniya collective town and Auzer village in al-Jazeera collective town, located in the Sinjar district in Nineveh governorate. Five days later, the death toll released by MNF-I was 350 dead, between 80-100 missing and 400 wounded. The UN’s own estimates placed the death toll at 310 and those wounded at 715. The force of the twin blasts destroyed more than 500 houses and damaged more than 2000, leaving hundreds homeless, 400 orphaned and 100 widowed, making this the deadliest single attack against a minority group since 2003.46 To date there has been no claim of responsibility by any armed groups or militia, although the local authorities’ investigations initially focused on insurgent elements linked to al-Qaeda."

Document(s): Open document

11.2007 - Source: Gesellschaft für Bedrohte Völker

Situation of Yezidi minority; attacks on Yezidi between March 2004 and August 2007; situation in traditional settlement areas; abduction of Yezidi women (special report, in German) ("Die Yezidi im Irak") [ID 22014]

Report in German on areas of residency, situation of Yezidi women and issues and demands of the Yezidi.

Document(s): Open document

08.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Situation of Yezidi in Central Iraq ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Iraqi Asylum-seekers") [ID 23140]

"The situation of Yazidis in the Ninewa Governorate and other areas under the administration of the Central Government has deteriorated since the fall of the former regime, due to high levels of insurgent activities and ethnic/religious tensions. Targeted attacks against Yazidis include threats, assassinations and public defamation campaigns. As they are considered “infidels” (or even apostates) and of Kurdish ethnicity, Yazidis have been targeted by Sunni extremists present in Baghdad and towns like Sinjar, Mosul and Tel Afar. Most attacks against Yazidis are not reported in the international and national media or are portrayed as incidents involving Kurds. UNAMI reported that in late December 2006, a Yazidi was murdered in Mosul; according to the police simply on the basis of his religious affiliation. Mir Tahsin Saied Beg survived a bombing in Al-Qosh on 17 December 2004. Reportedly, the Mir and other prominent figures avoid public appearances for security reasons."

Document(s): Open document

04.2005 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

General information on freedom of religion; situation of Christians, Jews, Mandeans, Yezides and Jehova's Witnesses ("Hintergrundinformation zur Gefährdung von Angehörigen religiöser Minderheiten im Irak") [#31560],  [ID 10248]

Document(s): Open document

01.10.2004 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Iraqi religious leaders: Yezidi leaders ("original document") [ID 10559]

"Mir Tahsin Sa'id Beg -- the secular and spiritual head of the Yezidis. Born in 1933, the fifth child of Sa'id Beg and Meyan Khatun, Tahsin was appointed head of the Yezidis in 1944 following his father's death. In an interview published on yezidi.org website, he said that his mother Meyan Khatun, along with the Yezidi religious council and tribal leaders, chose him as his father's successor. His mother ruled the Yezidis as his representative until he was 18 years old. He fled Iraq in the 1970s after he was falsely implicated in a failed coup attempt against the Hussein regime, first living in Iran, then London. After 1981, he returned to Iraq, but it appears that he has divided his time between Iraq and Germany, where a large Yezidi community exists.

Baba Sheikh -- Khatto Hajji was elected baba sheikh (senior father) of the Yezidis in 1995. He is a known oppositionist to the Hussein regime, which reportedly tried to reverse his election. Khatto Hajji's family is linked to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)."

Document(s): original document

13.08.2003 - Source: UK Home Office

Background information about Yazidis ("original source") [ID 10249]

"The Yazidis' stronghold is northern Iraq. 23 The Yazidis practise one of the more secretive and persecuted religions and claim to number 700,000 in Iraq. The Yazidis have won a seat on the governing council of the northern city of Mosul and are planning to restart Yazidi lessons in schools. The tribes political and religious leader said this was the first time they have had political power in Iraq and that they want their religion in school, their name in the constitution, members in the parliament and ministers in government."

Document(s): original source