BAGHDAD: Iraq solemnly held a state funeral on Monday for 41 Yazidis who fell victim to the atrocities committed by the Daesh group in 2014. The victims, identified through extensive DNA testing by authorities, were among those targeted by Daesh during their capture of territories in Iraq, particularly in the northern region of Sinjar.
After declaring victory over Daesh extremists in 2017, Iraq uncovered several mass graves across the country, initiating a process of identification. The state funeral in Baghdad saw portraits of the victims and their coffins, draped in the Iraqi flag and adorned with flower wreaths, paraded on army pick-up trucks at the iconic Martyrs monument. Family members and Yazidi officials attended the ceremony to pay their respects.
The identification of these 41 victims brings the total number of Yazidis found and returned to their families to 188, as reported by health ministry spokesperson Saif Al-Badr. The identification process continues through a “complex and expensive” DNA testing procedure, as the bodies were exhumed from a mass grave dating back to the 2014 massacres orchestrated by the terrorist organization IS, according to Zaid Ali Abbas, the director of Iraq’s forensic authority.
Identification Process of Victims in Iraq
Highlighting the challenges faced during the identification process, Abbas emphasized the difficulty of collecting samples and establishing a database, particularly when a large number of the victims’ relatives are abroad. Yazidi MP Vian Dakhil expressed concern about the “sluggishness regarding government procedures and DNA testing,” citing a large number of victims still awaiting identification. She also pointed out the insufficient public funding dedicated to the identification process and the overall neglect of the Sinjar file by successive governments since 2014.
This state funeral follows a similar event organized last May for 78 victims of Daesh. The ongoing exhumation of more than 200 mass graves left by Daesh may reveal up to 12,000 bodies, according to the United Nations. The International Organization for Migration reports that over 2,700 Yazidis remain missing.
