Iraq leader hails Nobel Prize for Yazidi anti-rape activist Nadia Murad

Salih tweeted that he had spoken with Murad to congratulate her, saying the prize was "an acknowledgement of (the) tragic plight" of the religious minority and "recognition for her courage in defending human rights of victims of terror & sexual violence".

Murad, the first Iraqi to become a Nobel peace laureate, was also congratulated by the country's outgoing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his intended successor Adel Abdel Mahdi.

"I congratulate Iraq and the Iraqis. I congratulate the Yazidi brothers and sisters. I congratulate Nadia Murad for her award," prime minister designate Mahdi wrote on Facebook.

Non-governmental organisation Yazda said Murad's award was important for all Yazidis who had suffered at the hands of the jihadist Islamic State group.

"Today marks a special day for the Yazidis and other minorities and all victims of genocide and mass atrocities committed" by IS, said the NGO, set up to help Yazidi women recover from the trauma of rape.

"We hope that this recognition will help Nadia and Yazidis endeavours to bring justice, peace, and coexistence", added Yazda in a tweet.

Murad, a survivor of the Islamic State group's brutal campaign of enslavement, torture and rape of Yazidi women, has campaigned for the freedom of her people since being released from almost three years in captivity.

Murad was taken from her home village of Kocho near Iraq's northern town of Sinjar in August 2014 and brought to IS-controlled Mosul, where she was gang-raped, and bought and sold multiple times by militants.

She eventually fled Mosul with the help of a Muslim family, from where she crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan.

It was at this point that Murad learned of the deaths of six of her brothers and her mother.

Since fleeing Iraq, she has settled in Germany, where she leads her human rights work and campaigning for Yazidi rights.