Armenian woman tortured and stoned to death by militants in Idlib

PanARMENIAN.Net - An Armenian woman was repeatedly tortured and then executed by the militants in the Jisr Al-Shughour District of the Idlib Governorate, Al-Masdar News reports.

The death of the Armenian woman, Suzanne Der Karkour, was first reported by the humanitarian organization SOS Chretiens d’Orient on July 13.

According to the humanitarian group, Der Karkour went missing on July 9th inside her hometown of Al-Yaqoubiyeh, which is located just north of the jihadist stronghold of Jisr Al-Shughour.

A local priest sent parishioners to search for Der Karkour on July 9th; they found the Armenian woman dead in a field.

Citing locals from Al-Yaqoubiyeh, the humanitarian group said an autopsy was done on Der Karkour’s body and it was found that she was tortured for at least nine hours before she was stoned to death.

Der Karkour, who was 60 at the time of her death, was one of the few Christians still living in the jihadist-held areas in northern Syria.

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed the report about Der Karkour and said she was killed by unknown assailants; however, the locals in Al-Yaqoubiyeh and SOS Chretiens d’Orient said the local jihadists were behind her brutal murder.

Al-Yaqoubiyeh is one of several Christian towns that surround Jisr Al-Shughour. At least 18 women remained in Al-Yaqoubiyeh after the jihadists captured the town. Many of their relatives escaped to the Syrian government-held areas prior to its capture by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Jabhat Al-Nusra.