Iraq’s Yazidis gather to remember the dead and missing, 10 years on from Islamic State genocide

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide, the community in the old city of Sinjar hung the pictures of victims on the rubble. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Observer

Saturday marked exactly 10 years since Islamic State (IS) entered Iraq’s Sinjar province, displacing, killing and enslaving hundreds of thousands of Yazidis. On Saturday morning, crowds gathered for a ceremony to remember victims of the genocide at the “grave of the mothers”, where 111 elderly women were shot dead or buried alive after being separated from their family members.

The ceremony at the mass grave near the Yazidi genocide memorial in Solagh began at 10am, when a minute’s silence was observed across the country. Traditional Yazidi songs were sung, and poems and witness testimonies were recited on the stage.