ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A viral video of a Kurdish mullah from Iran’s western Kurdish-majority regions (Rojhelat) referring to Yazidis as “filthy” and advocating for their killing has drawn a lot of backlash online and sparked responses from Yazidi authorities and religious authorities in the Kurdistan Region.

The video circulating on Kurdish social media in recent days shows Ramin Salih Zadeh, a local khatib (Islamic orator) from the city of Baneh, delivering a religious sermon. The New Region has not been able to independently verify the date of the footage.

“O Yazidis, we see you as infidels. O Yazidis, we see you as filthy. O Yazidis, we see you as unchaste. I swear by Allah, if granted the smallest opportunity, we would not let you live on this Earth for one second,” says the preacher.

“This is what our religion is. We don’t hide it from anyone, and we don’t hide from anyone. We don’t fear anyone, nor do we have fear in our hearts. We have one death written for us: let that death be for the sake of God,” he adds.

The viral footage comes mere days after the 12th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS), a transnational Sunni extremist group.

The Lalish Cultural and Social Center, a leading organization based in the Nineveh Plains and concerned with promoting, preserving, and celebrating Yazidi culture and heritage, strongly condemned the khatib’s remarks.

“This speech is the product of great hatred and animosity toward the Yazidi religion, and it is a threat undermining the social and religious fabric of the entire society,” read a statement from the center on Monday.

The statement emphasized that all relevant parties, “especially those who believe in social peace, tolerance, and coexistence,” must denounce such rhetoric, while stressing that the Yazidi community “has absolute faith in coexistence and tolerance among all components of society, and this speech is an insult to all groups and religions.”

Similarly, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs also denounced the use of “illogical” rhetoric against any community, emphasizing “brotherhood, love and comprehensive coexistence,” and stressing that “the ministry considers itself entitled to file legal action when necessary.”

“The culture of coexistence in the Kurdistan Region has historical roots. The teachers of the holy religion of Islam and all religions have played a role and work together to develop the spirit of unity and social peace,” said the ministry, describing Salih Zadeh’s comments as “an act far from religious and human values.”

Yazidis are an ethnoreligious minority group, primarily found in northern Iraq and the Kurdistan Region and in smaller communities in Turkey, Syria, and Iran. The Yazidi population has been largely displaced and dispersed worldwide, especially after the 2014 ISIS massacre.

The Yazidi community has been subjected to countless atrocities throughout history but they have managed to persevere and preserve their faith and culture through their unity and their commitment to their traditional values.

Although the Iranian penal code criminalizes insults directed at Iranian ethnicities and constitutionally recognized religions, the Islamic republic’s constitution only recognizes Jews, Zoroastrians, and Christians as non-Muslim religious minorities.