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We were then forcibly taken individually or in groups and abused. Treated as less than human, we suffered because we were Yazidis.

faryal

ISIS captivity and sex slave survivor from Iraq

In 2014, when ISIS invaded Sinjar, we were at home in the Hardan compound, believing their claim that they came in peace and would not harm us. However, they soon demanded we convert to Islam, and we feared they would take the women and girls. We decided to leave in our cars, but midway to safety, ISIS ambushed us, stopped all cars, and gathered us together, instructing us to wait. After about an hour, they directed us to their camp in the Khanasor compound, escorting us in a convoy. We stayed there until 8 PM on August 3, 2014, before being taken to Syria in a line of around 60 cars. People from Hardan, Khanasor, and Sinuni Subdistrict were all brought to a school in a Syrian village.

Later, ISIS arrived and separated boys aged eleven and younger, taking the men. We, as females, remained in the school for a week without any information about our loved ones, alongside children who cried for their fathers and brothers. My young cousin was crying, longing to see his father. After some time, the men were brought back, and we stayed together for another eight days.

The new ISIS member who took me was much older. His wife initially forbade him from hurting me due to my age, but he later ignored her and continued to abuse me, also providing contraception to prevent pregnancy. The brutality felt endless, each act of cruelty rooted in the fact that we were Yazidi.

faryal

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Faryal. Sinjar, Iraq 2024

On the eighth day, four senior ISIS members arrived from Mosul, took down our names and family details, and promised that we would be returned to Iraq and freed. Filled with hope, we believed them. Instead, they separated us into groups: women and girls without male companions on one bus, young men on another, and the rest of the elderly, children, and other men and women on three buses.

The women and girls were taken to Mosul and placed in a house where around 100 Yazidi women were gathered. After three days, more girls arrived from Badoosh. Then, they began separating the girls based on their looks, selecting those they deemed more beautiful. My sister, cousins, and I were all there, but they didn’t choose my cousins and separated us. My sister and I were taken to another room where our personal information was recorded. We were then forcibly taken individually or in groups and abused. Treated as less than human, we suffered because we were Yazidis.

Over the next month, the ISIS members continued to choose girls, sometimes selecting two or three at a time. Being about thirteen years old, I was left with eight other young girls until the end. My sister was sold and taken back to Sinjar. About a month later, a fighter named Abu Saleh took the remaining eight of us to another location, stating we were reserved for their leaders who were still out fighting. When they returned, they would choose one of us, ignoring our pleas. Later, my sister was brought back to me. The ISIS member who had us then took my sister, two other girls, and me to his home, where we found another Yazidi woman with two children.

Faryal. Sinjar, Iraq 2024

We stayed there for five days before another ISIS member arrived and forcibly took my sister, hitting us and separating our hands. I knew what awaited her. I had no news of my family; we didn’t even have access to basic hygiene, and I could barely eat out of fear. Eventually, my sister was brought back. A fighter from Baghdad then purchased her, but, seeing my youth, insisted I should stay with her. I stayed with this man’s family for seven months. During this time, he forced my sister into marriage and rape, promising he would take me to my family, although he later died in battle.

His mother, however, drove me out. She claimed I had no place with them, but my sister had to remain as her son had “bought her.” I was taken to Tal Afar, where an ISIS member arrived, claiming to have purchased me and demanding I go with him. I refused, but he threatened to kill my family if I did not. To protect them, I went with him, enduring isolation and further abuse and rape. I managed to escape briefly, but he found me and brought me back, eventually exchanging me with another captive named Layla.

Layla and I shared stories of our lives before ISIS, crying over how they had destroyed our simple, peaceful existence. The new ISIS member who took me was much older. His wife initially forbade him from hurting me due to my age, but he later ignored her and continued to abuse me, also providing contraception to prevent pregnancy. The brutality felt endless, each act of cruelty rooted in the fact that we were Yazidi.

Eventually, I was taken to Mosul, where I met another Yazidi girl, Samira, who revealed that I had been gifted to another ISIS member. I stayed there that night, enduring further abuse before being returned to my previous captor. I was kept with other Yazidi girls at one point, and during a bombing, I fled to an Arab Muslim family who, while harbouring ISIS supporters, did not report me. I worked in their home for over two years, telling myself that one day, I might find safety.

Everything we endured was solely due to our religious differences. They forced us to pray, read the Quran, and insisted we abandon our beliefs. What we experienced is difficult to fully express, and the pain remains profound.

faryal

After the liberation of Mosul, the battles continued in Tal Afar. With the family’s support, I survived these attacks and later fled with them on foot. When we reached the Badush area, I identified myself as a Yazidi to the Iraqi army. Upon my return, I found none of my relatives; some had been freed and relocated, while others remained under ISIS captivity. My family was in Germany, but seven members of my extended family are still missing. I now live with my grandmother and two cousins, longing to join my family in Germany.

Text translated by Saada Silo Hussein