ISIS Sex Slave Survivors Return Home, Reveal Multiple Abortions
Islamic State fighters have fled their de-facto capital of Raqqa in Syria, leaving behind their sex slaves, who are now returning home. Two of them, both in their teens, spoke to media about their plight that lasted nearly three years.
British newspaper The Times interviewed the two Yazidi girls, Helin and Takoshin, who were abducted by fighters of the Islamic State terror group, also known as IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, from Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq three years ago, and sold as sex slaves.
Helin is now 15, and Takoshin, 14.
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Helin had to undergo an abortion three times last year as she was raped numerous times by IS fighters.
"The worst man I had, the most evil, he was killed in an airstrike," she was quoted as saying. "I thank God every day that he was killed. Now I want to see my family."
Takoshin was bought and sold 10 times.
She was asked to look after a 1-year-old Yazidi boy, whose parents had been killed by IS fighters. The boy, who is now four years old, speaks Arabic, and not the Kurdish language. Takoshin calls herself the boy's "mother."
"I hope my family lets me keep him as my son. I'm his mother."
Other stories of sex slave survivors have revealed the horror of living as ISIS captives. A Yazidi girl, who was able to escape her ISIS captors, told BBC in July that she had been raped every day for six months. The girl, identified as Ekhlas, told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show that she was captured at 14 years old and picked out of 150 girls after lots were drawn.
"I tried to kill myself," she said, describing her rapist as a "beast."
In August, seven Christians living under IS in Raqqa were rescued by Christian fighters affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces.
A Christian woman, named Saws Karabidian, who was rescued, told the Kurdish news outlet ARA News what it was like to live under IS' rule.
"They forced us to wear the headscarf and allowed us to reveal our faces to distinguish us from Muslims. We had to hide our faces to avoid insults," she said.
Another Christian, named Karadij Karadjian, was quoted as telling SDF fighters that he was forced to pay a tax for being Christian.
As IS rose to power in Iraq and Syria in 2014, it was widely reported that the terror group demanded that non-Muslims either convert to Islam or pay a jizya tax, or else they would be killed.
Karabidian's relative, Alexey, told AFP that they were forced to celebrate each religious holiday in secret, stating that when IS came into Raqqa, they burned the churches, prayer books and statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.
"We used to celebrate our holidays in secret, spending them at home in fear," the Christian woman explained. "We would light a bit of incense just to feel that it was a religious holiday."
