ISIL video of Yazidis 'mass conversion', did those people have any other option?

ISIL video of Yazidis 'mass conversion', did those people have any other option?
ISIL video of Yazidis 'mass conversion', did those people have any other option?
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The News Minute| August 21, 2014| 9.00 pm 

The Islamic State (IS) Sunni extremist organisation, based in Iraq and Syria, Thursday released a video showing dozens of members of the Yazidi minority religious community converting to Islam.

The 10-minute recording describes the Yazidis, who belong to Iraq's Kurdish minority, as "true infidels" who practise "rare rituals" to worship the "cursed Satan”. An ISIL commander describes the Yazidis as 'Kuffars', a derogatory term for non-believers, who will now live happy lives.

But as the Telegraph notes, the video conveniently omits the part that these people will most likely have been forced to convert, left with no option other than brutal death. The Telegraph asks if many thousands of people in ISIL controlled areas will have to make hard choices. Will they compromise with the new power in their home area, or resist?

Earlier this month, tens of thousands of Yazidis fled to the mountains after the IS took the town of Sinjar in northern Iraq. The IS, which has made gains over the past weeks in northern Iraq, had warned Christians and Yazidis they should convert or leave as it seized their most important towns.

"Now you are unfaithful, we will teach you the Shahada (Islamic profession of faith) and you are going to turn into Muslims," the Yazidis were told on the video.

After reciting the "Shahada", the captives performed Islamic prayers as they chanted "Islam is the true religion and justice".

Inputs IANS

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