A YEAR AFTER: Yezidi women recount ISIS atrocities

05-08-2015
Kurt Nagl and Hajir Sharifi
Yezidi women who held captive by ISIS asked for international support. Photo:Rudaw
Yezidi women who held captive by ISIS asked for international support. Photo:Rudaw
Tags: Yezidi ISIS Shingal Sinjar Kurdistan Iraq.
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This week marks the first anniversary of the Islamic State’s siege of the city of Shingal.
 
Thousands of Kurdish Yezidis were killed by the extremists, and scores of women and children were captured while others fled to the mountains.
 
Captured women and girls were taken as sex slaves for the terrorists. Rape, abuse and torture became part of their daily routine in ISIS captivity.
 
They transformed from peaceful villagers into property overnight.
 
“They regularly would beat us. Each of them came and took one or two girls for himself,” said a 17-year-old Yezidi girl named Sahireh. “Whatever you could imagine happened to the Yezidi people.”
 
Watch the video above to listen to Sahireh’s story as well as those of other women who escaped ISIS’ clutches. 

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