Pari Ibrahim, founder and director of the Free Ezidi Foundation (FYF), appeared on WORLD Radio’s WORLD History Book segment to speak about the 2014 Ezidi Genocide, the missing and the continued threat posed by IS ideology. The report was produced by journalist Jenny Rough.
IS attacked Shengal on 3 August 2014. Ibrahim said Ezidis were executed, while women and children were abducted. She described how Ezidi women and girls were later bought and sold through IS slave markets in Iraq and Syria.
Ibrahim told WORLD Radio that IS offered Christians the option of paying the jizya tax or leaving IS-held territory. Ezidis, she said, were not given that option.
Within days of the attack, Ibrahim began work to locate Ezidis who may still be alive or held in captivity. WORLD Radio reports that more than 2,000 Ezidi women and children remain missing.* Ibrahim said Ezidi families still approach the Free Ezidi Foundation with information about relatives they believe they have located.
She said the missing must be identified individually, by face and name: “These are human beings.”
Ibrahim also warned against treating IS as a finished threat. “The ideology remains,” she said, adding that instability in Iraq and Syria continues to feed extremist violence.
Speaking from the United States, Ibrahim compared the lack of an organised search for missing Ezidis with Amber Alerts issued when a child is kidnapped. “Nobody is putting out an alert for our people,” she said.
Ezidi Times note: Current 2026 figures vary by source. The Free Ezidi Foundation lists 2,528+ missing Ezidis as of February 2026, while an August 2026 government statement lists 2,526.
