ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Yazidi spiritual leader Sheikh Ali Ilyas is in stable condition after suffering a stroke, his attending physician stated on Saturday.
"The stroke was mild and he is now under observation," Dr. Mohammed Aziz told Rudaw’s Naif Ramadan from the private hospital in Duhok where the Yazidi spiritual leader is being treated.
His health deteriorated Friday night.
Ilyas holds the position of Baba Sheikh, which is the title given to the Yazidi supreme spiritual leader. He was appointed in late 2020 by Yazidi community leader Mir Tahsin Bag, following the death of his predecessor Khurto Hajji Ismail.
Aziz said high blood cholesterol levels, stress, and smoking were contributing factors behind the stroke.
“He smokes around 40 cigarettes [a day],” he added.
Ilyas will remain in the hospital for three to four more days, but his condition “does not require treatment from outside the country,” the doctor added.
Ilyas was born in Shekhan, Duhok province in 1979. His father served as the spiritual leader from 1978 to 1995.
He was inaugurated during a ceremony at the holy temple of Lalish in November 2020, attended by some 5,000 Yazidis from across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.
The Baba Sheikh told Rudaw at that time that the return of thousands of Yazidis kidnapped by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 would be a priority for him.
He said the kidnapped women are “holy” and “I will carry their message wherever I go.”
His predecessor made an unprecedented decision to welcome back women and girls who had been raped by ISIS, breaking with the tradition that forbids relationships with non-Yazidis.
