Dohuk, Iraq // After eight long months of captivity, it took Maher Kuder only moments to decide to escape. His sudden determination was the result of a stark choice: to make a run for it, or do nothing to prevent relatives as young as twelve being forced into marriage with ISIL fighters.
At 17, Maher was the oldest of the 25 children and youths from his extended family held by the extremists in Tal Afar, a town in northern Iraq. They had been among the thousands of Yazidis swept up by ISIL as they advanced on Sinjar in northern Iraq last August, capturing the city and laying siege to the mountain range behind it.
ISIL regards Yazidis, whose religion predates Islam and Christianity, as heretics they can enslave at will. Women in particular are a coveted prize, and Yazidi women have been sold into slavery and forcibly married off to fighters en masse.
But with their military advances into the Yazidi heartlands stalled, the militants were struggling to still their thirst for rape, and they began turning to younger victims.
One day early in April, Maher’s captors told them that the girls aged between 12 and 14 would be taken away the next morning. Together with his cousin Yamina, Maher urged the others to muster the courage to flee.
“I told the girls that they would be taken as brides. They were scared but I told them that they don’t have a choice but to run away,” he says, speaking to The National in the Karbato refugee camp near Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan.
They set off at 11 that night, remembers Gawry Khalaf Hussein, the only adult in the group. Gawfy had stayed in Tal Afar in spite of being offered her freedom by ISIL, who earlier this month handed over 200 Yazidi women and children to Kurdish forces guarding Kirkuk.
The 45 year-old mother had not joined them, refusing to leave behind her two daughters.
But when the group slipped out of Tal Afar under the cover of darkness, Gawry’s thoughts were not only about the perilous journey ahead.
She had been able to cling on to one of her daughters, but the other had been taken to Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city that was overrun by ISIL last June. With a heavy heart, the mother had to leave one child behind to save the other.
In the pitch black, Maher and Yamina led the way towards Mount Sinjar. ISIL had failed to capture the extended plateau, thwarted by a counterattack by battle-hardened Syrian Kurds and US airstrikes. The mountain can be seen from Tal Afar, and the young Yazidis knew that if they reached it, they would be safe.
When day broke, the group hid in a field among the grass that in springtime can be several feet tall. They knew that the ISIL guards would come looking for them, and to keep the youngest quiet, they fed them sleeping tablets they had been given by militants.
They continued their journey after nightfall, struggling to stay together while stumbling through fields and ravines. They had little food, and could only quench their thirst if they came across a stream.
After hiding anxiously for another day, the Yazidis set out for their third night of walking.
Maher, preoccupied and unable to see the ground in front of him, fell and broke his arm, the pain adding to the sense of urgency. With the meagre food supplies exhausted and the children getting weaker, time was running out. Exhausted, they reached the mountain before sunrise.
With his arm hung in a sling, Maher sits in a crowded tent and quietly tells his story. His eyes gaze into the distance, there is no swagger in his voice. He is remarkably slight, but there is nothing youthful to his appearance.
He is worried about his parents and siblings, who remain in ISIL-held territory. His cousin Yamina has gone to live with her mother and an uncle at another camp.
His voice remains calm throughout, but his eyes narrow when asked about ISIL. “If I can, I will fight, and I will kill them,” he says firmly.
For Iraq’s half a million Yazidis, ISIL’s lightning advance towards Sinjar has shattered their belief in a peaceful coexistence with the Sunni Arabs that make up the majority of Nineveh province.
Several Yazidis that escaped ISIL-held territory told The National that many of the ISIL militants they encountered were from neighbouring Sunni tribes. This experience has heightened age-old anxieties. “They want to rid Iraq of Yazidis. Everything that is happening to us is because we are Yazidis,” said a Yazidi man in another refugee camp near Dohuk, who does not want to be identified because his family is still being held captive.
“We cannot live with Arabs any more. They will try and kill us again,” says Maher. Like most Yazidis in the camps, he wants to leave Iraq.
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
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Traits of Chinese zodiac animals
Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
Honeymoonish
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MATCH INFO
Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
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Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
Law%2041.9.4%20of%20men%E2%80%99s%20T20I%20playing%20conditions
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile
Name: The Concept
Founders: Yadhushan Mahendran, Maria Sobh and Muhammad Rijal
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 7
Sector: Aviation and space industry
Funding: $250,000
Future plans: Looking to raise $1 million investment to boost expansion and develop new products
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5