Iraqi president meets Nobel prize winner Nadia Murad in Baghdad

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi President Barham Saleh has stressed the importance of ending disputes among regional powers in order to eradicate terrorism.

The president made the remarks Wednesday during a meeting at al-Salam palace in Baghdad with Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2018 last Friday.

Saleh pledged during the meeting to “personally follow up the case of Yazidi women taken captive by Islamic State,” Baghdad Today news website quoted the Iraqi presidency as saying in a statement.

The president further “stressed the need for ending regional conflicts, which nurture extremism and give the terrorist groups a chance to emerge,” the statement added.

Murad, 25, is an activist from the persecuted Yazidi religious minority in Iraq, who was released from Islamic State captivity in 2014.

On Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Murad and Dr. Denis Mukwege, 63, from the Democratic Republic of Congo the Nobel Peace Prize 2018 for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.

Murad was humbled by the award, she told Reuters on Friday. “I share this award with all Yazidis, with all the Iraqis, Kurds, and all the minorities and all survivors of sexual violence around the world,” she said.