A statement was issued on Wednesday, 19/2/2020 by a number of the Ezidi organizations calling for cancelling the wrong judgment against the Ezidi youth “Khalid Shamo”

“Ezedi 24” received a copy of the statement that contained:

“We urge the Iraqi government to immediately release Khalid Shamo, after sentencing him without access to a fair trial”.  And also contained “Reacting to the Nineveh Criminal Court decision in Iraq to condemn Mr. Khalid Shamo to the death penalty, and the protestations in Sinjar in reaction to the condemnation”:  As it mentioned in the statement also “On the 4th of February 2020, the Nineveh Criminal Court in Iraq condemned Khalid Shamo Sarhan Atto Salo, a 20-years old Ezidi / Yazidi, to the death penalty based on false charges”.
The statement also referred to” The accusation was his supposed-participation in an armed attack on a vehicle in Bara village, for which he already spent 7 months in jail without having the right to see anyone. His family is being denied their right to visit every time they try. This accusation is false, and Khalid never had a fair chance at proving its innocence”.

And the statement added “The treatment of this accusation by the Nineveh Criminal Court violates Khalid’s basic Human Rights because of its lack of due process and its failure to guarantee an efficient defense to the accused, notably by refusing to hear from the witnesses. Khalid was accused and detained under terrorism charges, for which torture and abuse are commonly used to obtain confessions. These charges, which are usually used to prosecute ISIS fighters and affiliates, are now used against innocent people at the convenience of Iraqi Courts”.  And continued “This brutal decision comes in the context of an evermore impoverished situation for the Ezidi community with most of its members living in camps for Internally Displaced People in the North Iraq, and thousands of them were killed, kidnapped and traumatized during the 2014 genocide. After the genocide, the Iraqi government should have taken consistent steps to ensure the rehabilitation of Ezidis and their institutional integration but failed by choosing to close their eyes and ears to the voices of Ezidis and other minorities. investigation and a fair trial would have proved his innocence due to abundant evidence and witnesses that were available to the Iraqi police and the Justice Department. Among important pieces of evidence that we were able to collect in just a day, Khalid was 200km (124miles) away from the crime scene commemorating the Ezidi genocide in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and his supposed-affiliation to the PKK was denied by all his relatives. And the statement ended with “Though this statement, we want to amplify the voices of the hundreds of Eidis who tool the streets of Sinjar City to protect this judgment despite the danger that such a demonstration represents to them.

In the face of this evident injustice and the violation of  Khalid Shamo’ human rights , we are calling upon human rights organizations around the world to join our fight and make sure that khalid is provided with due process rights, which we are certain will result in him being cleared of all charges and released. We call on Iraqi Authorities to commit to withdrawing the ruling of the Mosul Criminal Court and establish a new trial that will fairness and justice. We are also calling upon the president of Iraq, Mr. Barham Salih, the Iraqi Minister of Justice Mr. Haydar Al-Zamli, the Nineveh Governor Mr. Najim Al-Jiburi, the Nineveh Court Judge Mr. Jamal Dawod Qaro Al-Sinjari and the Iraqi Ambassador in france Mr. Nezar Khairallah to act in order to avoid an innocent man being killed under their watch”.

Co-signed by:

Défense Sans Frontières – Avocats Solidaires (France)

Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (France)

Eyzidi Organization for Documentation (Iraq)

Ezidi24 (Iraq, Germany)

Gilles William Goldnadel, President of Avocats Sans Frontières ASF (France)

Human Rights Monitoring Institute (Lithuania)

Julien Martin, Lawyer at the Bureau of Strasbourg (France)

Laure Streby, Lawyer in International Family Law (France)

Mirza Dinnayi, 2019 Aurora Prize Laureate for Awakening Humanity & Head of Luftbrücke Irak (Iraq, Germany)

Shingal Charity Organization (Iraq)

Union des Yézidis de France (France)

Yazda, Global Yazidi Organization (International)

Youth Bridge Development Organization (Iraq)

Cultural Center of Caucasian Yezidis (Georgia)