UN rights chief accuses IS jihadists of crimes against humanity

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Aug. 25 a ruthless campaign of "ethnic and religious cleansing" by Islamic State jihadists in Iraq amounted to a crime against humanity.
      
She said their reign of terror against  non-Arab ethnic groups and non-Sunni Muslims alike involved targeted killings, forced conversions, abductions, trafficking, slavery, sexual abuse, and destruction of holy and cultural sites.
      
"They are systematically targeting men, women and children based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation and are ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under their control," Pillay said in a statement.
      
"Such persecution would amount to crimes against humanity," she added.
      
The jihadists, who already occupied parts of Syria, launched an offensive in Iraq in June and rapidly seized much of its Sunni heartland.
      
Previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the jihadists rebranded themselves as the Islamic State after declaring a "caliphate" in a region straddling the Iraq-Syria border.
      
"Grave, horrific human rights violations are being committed daily by ISIL and associated armed groups," Pillay said.
                      
Minority groups targeted include Christians, Yazidi, Shabaks, Turkomen, Kakae and Sabaeans, she said.
      
In the Nineveh region of northern Iraq, hundreds of Yazidi were reported killed and some 2,500 kidnapped at the beginning of August.
      
Those who agreed to convert to Islam were being held under jihadist guard. Among those who refused, the men were reportedly executed and the women and...