ICC Note:  A Christian family from Qaraqosh narrates the ordeal they had to experience when they had to flee their home after ISIS invaded their town. The family filed for asylum in France, which was granted and they stayed there for two years. However, the family was excited to be able to return home after ISIS was defeated.

4/5/2018 Iraq (AINA) – Samir Gedhya never wanted to leave his home in Qaraqosh for the unknown, even when the Islamic State group was almost at his doorstep, sweeping through the towns of Iraq. As the menace to Qaraqosh loomed, his eldest son Faraj, then 16, decided to flee to France, entering by a hazardous and illegal boat journey with the aim of later seeking to move his family there. Samir and his wife, Shaymaa, decided they would take the longer, safer and legal route to France together with their two younger sons.

Just before IS penetrated Qaraqosh in August 2014, the Assyrian Christian family fled to Erbil Governorate, finding themselves on the streets of the city of Ankawa without a roof over their heads. After a week, they arrived at Mart Shmoni refugee camp, which hosted 15,000 people, then moved onto Ankawa shopping mall, which had opened its doors to 4,000 refugees. Years later, the memory of scabies, a contagious skin infection that had spread throughout the mall, makes Samir’s body crawl, even though he did not contract it.

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