1. For Release 10/27.2014 – 10/31/2014
Contact: Hawar Shawki –Director of
Public Affairs
Kurdish National Congress of North
America
Phone: 586 344 4335
Email: hawar.shawki@gmail.com
Kurdish National
Congress of North
America
Press Release
A Hunger Strike to save Yezidi and Christian Women and Girls from ISIS in
Washington D.C
Kurdish Diaspora in the United States will go on hunger strike outside the White House on Monday
October 27th
till Friday October 31st
in D.C to gain international recognition for Yezidi and Christian
Women and Girls from ISIS.
Washington D.C, October 27, 2014: The Kurdish National Congress of North America (KNC) is endorsing a
hunger strike in Washington D.C at Lafayette Park (across from the White House) which aims to gain international
attention for thousands of Yezidi and Christian women and girls, who have been taken captive by Islamic State (IS)
terrorists and are being held at makeshift detention centers in Iraq and Syria. They have been forced into religious
conversion and are being raped, tortured, forced into marriage and sold into sexual slavery. Many have already
committed suicide and several who have managed to reach relatives on the outside are begging for death.
Believing that the US and others cannot afford to remain silent about this unimaginable horror, four Kurdish
Americans, Goran Slemani, Chato Fatah, Serkan Kurdee and Memn Mamrash are launching a hunger strike at
10:00am on Monday, October 27 at Lafayette Park across from the White House. This five day hunger strike will end
with a mock sex slave auction in front of the White House on Friday, October 31 from 12:00-3:00pm.This hunger
strike and subsequent mock sex slave auction are intended to raise awareness of this dire situation and generate
support for urgent efforts to save these women and girls. The hunger strikers, their supporters and an unprecedented
coalition of international and interfaith organizations stand united in condemnation of these IS crimes against
humanity and call on the US, coalition partners and international community to take immediate action to locate and
rescue these innocent women and girls before it is too late.
About KNC: The objective of KNC is to unite Kurds living in North America to work for common goals, to promote the idea of a United Free
Kurdistan, and to strengthen the voice of all Kurds living in the USA and Canada. The KNC is a democratic organization.
Its president and board of directors are elected by the members and the organization is governed by a set of by-laws. The KNC encourages
open discussion of issues, free speech, and active participation in leadership by its members. For more information go www.kncna.org.