IS fighters talk of buying Yazidi girls as slaves for $100-$300

In video, group of men discuss why younger girls, and those with green or blue eyes, are more highly valued

Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

A screen capture from a video purportedly showing Islamic State members discussing a slave market.  (screen capture: YouTube/AlAanTV)
A screen capture from a video purportedly showing Islamic State members discussing a slave market. (screen capture: YouTube/AlAanTV)

A video has emerged apparently showing Islamic State fighters discussing a “slave market day” during which they can purchase captive girls from the Yazidi religious minority group, paying more for those who have green or blue eyes.

The poor quality footage, which was posted to YouTube with English subtitles at the beginning of the month by Arabic satellite channel Al Aan TV, shows a crowded room of armed men sitting in chairs. In the background Islamic State flags can be seen hanging on the walls.

As the cameraman moves around the room, the men jubilantly declare that it is a “slave market day” and that they intend to purchase Yazidi girls.

“Today is the slave market day,” one of the men says to the camera. “Today is the day where this verse applies: ‘Except with their wives and the (captives) whom their right hands possess, for (then) they are not to be blamed’.”

“Whoever wants to sell his slave, whoever wants to give his slave as a present… Everyone is free to do what he wants with his share,” he later adds.

“Today is the day of (female) slaves and we should have our share,” says another. “Where is my Yazidi girl? Where is my Yazidi girl?”

http://youtu.be/tVISyjFwXAU
(Note: The above press image, added at the start of the video, is not of the alleged victims and is not directly related to the content of the video.)

It is unclear where and when the video was made.

The men discusses prices ranging from about $100-300 and note that the price for a girl varies depending on the color of her eyes, or her age.

“The price differs if she has blue eyes,” one of the men notes. “If she is 15 years old. I have to check her check her teeth. If she has green eyes.”

“If she doesn’t have teeth, why would I want her?” a man asks.

“Put dentures for her,” responds someone who is off-camera.

Last month, in a magazine published by the IS jihadist group, it admitted that it was operating slave markets of captured women.

Dabiq magazine stated that “the enslaved Yazidi families are now sold by the Islamic State soldiers.” It added that “the Yazidi women and children were then divided according to the Shariah amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar operations.”

Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls were captured by Islamic State fighters in early August when the terrorists overran Sinjar in northwestern Iraq. Hundreds were killed in the attack, and tens of thousands fled for their lives, most to the Kurdish-held parts of northern Iraq.

The Yazidis are a centuries-old religious minority viewed as apostates by the extremist Islamic State group in Iraq. Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled in August when Islamic State captured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, near the Syrian border.

The plight of the Yazidis, tens of thousands of whom were stranded on a desert mountaintop for days, encircled by the Islamic extremists, prompted US and Iraqi forces to launch aid drops. It also contributed to the US decision to launch airstrikes against the militants, who were advancing on Irbil.

Most of those Yazidis were eventually able to escape to Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdish region with the help of Kurdish fighters.

AP contributed to this report.

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