US doubles reward for ISIS leader to $10 million

Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi had issued religious edicts to justify the persecution of the Yazidi minority, a campaign the UN has described as genocide.

By AFP

2020-06-25

The US on June 24th doubled the reward for information on new ISIS leader Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi to $10 million. [Rewards for Justice]

The US on Wednesday (June 24th) doubled to $10 million its reward for the capture of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) group's leader, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced.

The US had already offered $5 million for Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi before he was identified as the successor to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed by US commandos in an October raid in Syria.

Born in 1976, al-Salbi is a scholar in Islamic law who issued edicts to justify the persecution of the Yazidi minority, a campaign that the UN has described as genocide.

The extremists killed thousands of Yazidis, who practice an ancient religion, and abducted and enslaved thousands more women and girls as they rampaged across the Middle East.

Al-Salbi was born in the Iraqi city of Mosul to a Turkmen family, making him one of the few non-Arabs to ascend the ranks of ISIS, which at its height ruled vast parts of Iraq and Syria and drew volunteers from the West.