Tahseen Said

Tahseen Said was the hereditary leader of Yazidis, a religious minority in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Armenia. He was born in Lalish, the holiest site of the Yazidi faith, in 1933. He became the leader of the Yazidis at the age of 11, after the death of his father. He was also the head of the Yazidi Supreme Spiritual Council and represented the Yazidis in all matters in respect of states and tribes. He lived in Ain Sifni, the district capital of the Yazidi region in Iraq. He also spent much of his life in Germany, where he had a large Yazidi community. He was a respected and revered figure among the Yazidis, who faced persecution and discrimination from various regimes and groups. He issued a plea to world leaders in 2014, when the Islamic State group attacked the Yazidi areas and committed atrocities against them. He died in Hanover, Germany, on 28 January 2019, at the age of 85. He was buried in Ain Sifni on 5 February 2019. His son, Hazim Tahsin Said, succeeded him as the leader of the Yazidis.