Missing Yezidi Girl in Kurdistan Draws Intervention of World’s Yezidis
TEKLEF, Kurdistan Region—The leader of the world’s small Yezidi community appealed to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to help resolve the case of a missing 11-year-old Yezidi girl, who by some accounts was kidnapped by a Muslim man and by other accounts eloped with him.
On January 9, 11-year-old Simon Dowud went missing from the village of Hurzan in the Teklef area. Her family say she was abducted by Hassan Nasruler, a 20-year-old Muslim man from the Goran tribe. But Hassan told his family he had not kidnapped the girl, and that she had followed him. They subsequently married and, according to a trusted source, have fled to the Mosul area. Her family say that, even if she was not abducted, the marriage to the underage girl is still illegal. Hassan’s first wife is currently asking for a divorce.
“The KRG haven’t done anything serious about this kidnapping,” said Mir Tahsin Beg, leader of the world’s Yezidis, most of whom are Kurds living in northern Iraq.
“I sent messages to the president of the KRG, the head of government in KRG and all the political party leaders, but unfortunately I haven’t had any replies,” Beg complained in a phone interview with Rudaw from Germany, where he lives.
“If the KRG made every effort to bring Simon back, this case wouldn’t have escalated to this extent. We are very upset and we don’t want to create a problem in Kurdistan,” he said, adding that, “We would like to end this matter through wise discussions without violence - but at this time, we are still waiting for an answer from these officials.”
In letters to Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani and Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, Beg said he had called on the KRG to put an end to the kidnapping of Yezidi girls, and to make every effort to return Simon to her family, explaining that such actions cause Yezidi people to flee Kurdistan.
Mashir Bashar Agha, head of the Goran tribe, posted a letter of apology on the Internet addressed to the Kurdish Yezidis. “This kind of immoral act is individual and does not reflect Goran tribal values,” he explained.
Bashir Khali, head of the religious committee in the Kurdish parliament said, “If anybody wants to marry someone from a different religion and even if the girl agrees, the couple still need to get permission from their families to do so.”
According to Kurdish law, girls under 16 cannot legally marry. Also, a man who seeks to marry a second wife must gain permission from his first wife.
Bashar Agha, head of the Goran tribe who lives in the town of Khalachia, told Rudaw that, “The reason that the girl has not yet been handed back to her family is not due to us or the girl’s family, but because the newly-married couple are afraid and have run away so we don’t know where they are.”
He added, “We don’t have any power over them but if they give themselves up to the Kurdish authorities I’m sure they will receive protection.”
Simon’s father, Dawud Ismail, says he has promised not to persecute his daughter, and urged her to return to the family. “I went to the police, registered a complaint and am waiting for the government to respond,” he told Rudaw.
Hari Bozani, a Yezidi representative, said that “Representatives of the American Consulate in the KRG visited me and said they were concerned about Simon’s situation. They promised to look into the matter very carefully.”
Yezidi Kurds living in Germany staged a demonstration last week, asking that Hassan Nasruler be tried, and for the return of Simon to her family. They also called for two new laws, one protecting children’s rights and the other for the protection of minority religious groups.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/5706.html
