Assyrian Captives of ISIS Appeal for Help in Video
A screen capture from the video, showing one of the Assyrians held by ISIS.
August 2015
(AINA) — A video appeared yesterday on Youtube showing Assyrian men, women and children who were captured by ISIS in Syria appealing for help. The video shows ten men who say their name, year of birth and the village they come from in Arabic. Each statement is preceded by “I am Nisrani” (Christian). The villages named by the captives are Tel Jazira and Tel Shamiram.
See attacks on Assyrians in Syria for more information.
Tel Jazira and Tel Shamiram are two of the 35 Assyrian villages on the Khabur river in the Hasaka province of Syria which were attacked by ISIS on February 23. ISIS captured 253 Assyrians in the attack, 108 number from Tel Shamiram and 52 from Tel Jazira. ISIS has released 48 Assyrians, with 205 still being held.
In the video the last man to speak says his name and village and also reads a written appeal: “We are here with our families” and calls on human rights organizations for help. He says the “organizations should pay ransom” for them in order to be freed.
The Assyrian Federation in Sweden verified the video. According to a message published on the Fedration’s website, Sabah Elijah, who lives in Sweden and who originates from Tel Shamiram, knows all the men seen in the video, with some being her relatives.
“I also had relatives among those recently released. They have told us they received food every other day. The women were forced to wear the veil,” Sabah said. “They lived in a very unhygienic environment and had lice. Those released will not disclose everything because they have relatives who are still in the hands of ISIS. They said they have gone through hell.”
© Assyrian International News Agency.
