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Everything you need to know about 10 Years of Darkness: ISIS & The Yazidis

In a brand-new, original Sky News documentary, 10 Years of Darkness: ISIS & The Yazidis uncovers the harrowing fate of the Yazidi community within the ISIS regime.

Across the hour-long special, award-winning British journalist Alex Crawford delivers an in-depth portrait of the Yazidi community using raw footage from her extensive reporting over the course of a decade from the Middle East.

From the systematic slaughter of the Yazidi people in Sinjar in 2014 and the mass abductions of women and children, the documentary highlights the ensuing humanitarian crisis that still reverberates today.

Through the footage, audiences are given a first-hand look into war zones and how people who are subjected to terror try to navigate their recovery, as Crawford brings into sharp focus the Yazidi community’s relentless search for the missing and their ongoing fight for justice.

Speaking about the project, Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent for Sky News, said: “I have reported on the horrors faced by the Yazidis for over a decade, telling the harrowing stories of the women and children taken as slaves, raped by ISIS.

“The alarming truth – which we explore in this film – is that thousands of them are still being held captive and this brutality continues.”

David Rhodes, Executive Chairman of Sky News, said: “This film has been made possible by our continued investment in on the ground reporting that delivers deep analysis and insight from around the world.

“Alex’s eyewitness accounts over an extensive period show audiences the full story, explaining the context and history and detailing new, horrifying revelations that viewers wouldn’t otherwise know about.”

Who appears in 10 Years of Darkness: ISIS & The Yazidis?

Many Yazidi women are still enslaved 10 years on – and throughout the documentary we’re told of the story of Kovan, who was abducted by ISIS militants at the age of 14.

We also meet Farida Khalaf, a Yazidi author and human rights activist whose village, Kocho in northern Iraq, was attacked by ISIS. Her memoir, The Girl Who Beat ISIS, recounts her experiences and has been published in over 14 countries.

She has become an international advocate, meeting with world leaders and testifying on issues of justice and human rights and playing an active role in campaigns to bring ISIS perpetrators to account.

Additional contributors to the documentary include Dr Shiraz Maher, Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Dr Jan Kizilhan, a German-Kurdish trauma expert and professor specialising in the treatment of survivors of war and genocide - who has worked extensively with Yazidi women and children subjected to atrocities by ISIS.

Where and when can I watch 10 Years of Darkness: ISIS & The Yazidis?

10 Years of Darkness: ISIS & The Yazidis will come to Sky News platforms on May 2, 2025.

10 Years of Darkness: ISIS & The Yazidis coming May 2 to Sky News platforms