ISIL is a genocidal force bent on the annihilation of “non- believers”. There is no middle ground for fanatics. They can’t destroy all non-believers so they pick away here and there whether that be New Orleans, Paris, Moscow and many other urban centres with easy civilian targets.
On 3August2014 ISIL commenced its attack on the Yazidi people of Sinjar in northwestern Iraq close to the Syrian border.
The United Nation’s Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis has documented how ISIL committed genocide as well as multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes through mass executions, forced religious conversion to Islam and widespread sexual violence against women and girls. Following the Sinjar attack ISIL forcibly transferred thousands of captured Yazidis into Syria where girls as young as 9 were subject to sexual slavery and Yazidi boys as young as 7 were forcibly trained for combat roles and suicide missions.
In 2019 when ISIL lost its territorial hold in Syria thousands of people mostly women and young children were presumed to be family members of ISIL fighters many of which were Yazidi mothers and their children some the result of ISIL rapes were detained in internment camps including Al Hawl and Rawj in northeast Syria forced to live amongst their abductors and kidnappers. Commissioner Lynn Welchman has said, “The international community should be supporting their recovery and well being and pursuit of justice, not perpetuating the atrocities they have survived.”
I have given you a bit of background so you may more fully understand the documentary “Mediha” which is largely the story of teenager Mediha who was abducted at 10 from her quiet Sinjar home and sold as a slave numerous times. ISIL had a physical and internet-based slave trade selling many young girls to the “brave” ISIL fighters who are not only terrorists but pedophiles.
Living in a refugee camp in Iraq with her handheld camera Mediha weaves a horrific recounting of her abduction and very little about the details of her slavery because it is too painful to recall. Her mother, father and 3 brothers were also abducted and she assumes her father was executed like so many Yazidi men.
It was her uncle that rescued Mediha and professional rescuers search for her missing brother and mother including a visit to the Al Hawl internment camp where hostility and the burka rule.
Mediha agrees to appear before Commission representatives in an attempt to identify her abductor who sold her for $500 USD equivalent.
A compelling watch and deep dive into to genocidal bent of ISIL and its disregard and overwhelming hatred of non-believers. Whilst Mediha escaped she is riddled with PTSD triggered by planes flying overhead and calls to prayer. In one scene Mediha is in agony listening to the call to prayers.
Chilling, disgusting, vile, revolting and barbaric yet a testament to the power of a camera and of the human spirit.
You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8bvCpQNL_g
The director of this American documentary is Hasan Oswald.
RKS 2025 Documentary Film Rating 95/100.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 