The United Nations human rights chief on Thursday condemned the brutal, cold-blooded slaying by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group of Iraqi human rights activist Sameera Salih Al Nuaimi, who was publicly executed by a masked firing squad in Mosul earlier this week.
"This horrifying public execution – of a courageous woman whose only weapons were the words she used in defence of the human rights of others – lays bare the bankrupt ideology of IS and its affiliates," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in a press statement made on Thursday.
Al-Nuaimy was detained on 17 September following posts on her Facebook page that were critical of IS, including of the "barbaric bombing and destroying of mosques and shrines in Mosul." She was then "convicted" of apostasy by a so-called court. Her husband and family were prohibited by IS from even giving her a funeral.
Prince Zeid also expressed his deep dismay at the situation facing hundreds of captured Yezidi women and girls, as well as some from other ethnic and religious groups, who have reportedly been sold into slavery, forced into marriage and repeatedly raped by IS fighters since their home areas were overrun in August.
"Their terrible predicament shames us all as human beings," the Human Rights Commissioner stated.