On July 9, a Facebook account shared a video that, according to the author, shows how Islamists are selling Yazidi girls abducted in Sinjar, northern Iraq, at a slave market. The footage shows a man inspecting women dressed in burqas and bound in chains.
On July 10, the same video was shared by other Facebook accounts (1, 2) with the same caption: “American democracy in Iraq.” The posts claim that Yazidi women are still being sold at slave markets to this day.
The video filmed in Iraq is being shared without context. In reality, it depicts a street performance staged in 2023 by a Kurdish artist, dedicated to the women who were taken captive during the August 2014 attack on the Sinjar region by the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS).
Information about the performance was published by its creator, Aryan Rafik, on Instagram in August 2023. In the description, she noted that the street performance took place on March 7, 2023, and is titled “The Unheard Screams of the Ezidkhan Angels.” She also included a list of the actors who participated in the performance.
In a subsequent post, which shows women dressed in burqas, it becomes clear that the performance was dedicated to the Yazidi genocide and to the Yazidi women who were abducted and sold.
The video circulated on Facebook contains the very same footage. One clear example confirming this is the scene in which a man is seen inspecting the women.
The video reveals that the street performance took place in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in Iraq. The footage shows the Erbil Citadel, a prominent landmark of the city.
On August 3, 2014, the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) launched a large-scale attack on the Sinjar region in northwestern Iraq, home primarily to the Yazidi community. During the attack, thousands of Yazidi men were killed, tens of thousands were forced to flee to the mountains, and approximately 5,000 to 7,000 Yazidi women were abducted and sold into slavery. Many of them were also subjected to sexual violence. Aryan Rafik’s performance was dedicated to the memory of the girls who lost their lives or became victims of violence during this tragic event.
The video in question has also been verified by fact-checking organizations, including Newschecker and Misbar.
It is important to note that the Yazidi tragedy did not end in 2014. According to Amnesty International’s 2024 report, even a decade later, thousands of Yazidis remain missing, and hundreds of women and children are still being held in northeastern Syria – in the al-Hol camp for abductees and at least 27 other similar facilities where they live in extremely harsh and life-threatening conditions.
According to the organization, many of them are unable to reveal their identity: some no longer remember that they are Yazidi, as they were abducted at a very young age, while others fear that disclosing their origin could expose them to attacks from ISIS supporters within the camps.
Shorena Gobadze
Myth Detector Lab
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