The Story of Yazidi Girl Who Spent 70 Days in IS Prison

Yazidi girl who spent 70 days in IS Prison

Interview

The Story of Yazidi Girl Who Spent 70 Days in IS Prison

http://basnews.com/en/News/Details/The-Story-of-Yazidi-Girl-Who-Spent-70-Days-in-IS-Prison/41311

05.11.2014

Risala Sharkani
BasNews, Erbil


The hero of this story is a Kurdish Yazidi 21-years-old girl, who fled from Kojo, a village (20) km south of Sinjar town to the capital city of Iraqi Kurdistan Erbil.

Kojo village is the place where IS militants have committed brutal atrocities and mass killings against Yazidi Kurds. In this report, the real name of the girl won’t be revealed. She tells the story of mass killing, kidnapping, sexual harassment that have been committed by IS militants as well as talking about how she tried to escape from Islamic State prisons two times:

After the takeover of Sinjar by IS militants since early August, the residents of the village did not leave due to the promise they got from Yazidi Sheikh of Albu Mtewt tribe that told them not to be worried and not to leave the village.

The day after Sinjar fall, one of the IS Leader named Abu Hamza Mtewta met with the sheikhs of Mtewt tribe with the presence of Ahmed Jaso who was basically the head of the village.

During the meeting, IS leader told again promised the head of the village that the Islamic State and won’t hurt any one even if they are “Yazidis” [different religion, they are not Muslim] and nobody can touch [hurt] anyone.

The day later, the Kojo Sheikh gathered village residents and told the them “we are all safe and don’t leave.”

This promise only continued for a few days. After that, they called Jaso for a meeting with the presence of Mtewt Sheikh that threatened them and asked them to gather all the villagers.

“When the villagers met, IS leader announced that all Kojo people have three choices; first, to be Muslim, secondly, stay as Yazidi but fight with IS against Peshmerga forces and Iraqi army, or thirdly, we will kill you all,” the girl told BasNews.

She continued, “They gave us three days to decide. In the three days, all the villagers, Jaso and Mtewt Sheikhs decided to neither change our religion and convert to become Muslim nor joining IS militants against Peshmerga forces”.

The girl said that the villagers told IS militants that this is our decision, and said “that’s our final decision for them.”

“The day after, the IS leader came back and threatened all of us and said that we now have only two choices to decide whether all of us convert to Islam or they will kill all of us,” the Yazidi girl added.

After IS leader got clear message from the villagers that they won’t convert and they got angry.

“Later that evening the IS leader got back and called all of us. They decided to separate the men from the girls and the women and then they took all the men away. I don’t know where they took them,” the girl says with teary eyes.

Later, the Jihadi fighters take the women and children to a nearby village called Solaq, which is located in the south western of Sinjar.

Next they separated girls from women and children.

“Then they took all of us, which we were about 60 girls. They took us to Mosul and took us to a house that looked like to be a house of a Christian family with pictures of Christ and crosses on the walls of the rooms,” said the girl.

Then according to the Yazidi girl, the girls stayed in the house that night. Next morning, they divide the girls into groups, each group made up of four girls.

“They took my friends and I as four girls to somewhere in the center of Mosul”, reveals the girl.

“After four days locked in a house, the girl says all four girls decided to run from the house.

“It was at night and it was dark and we realized that the guards were busy, we took advantage of it and escaped until we got away from the area. Later, we went to a house of a Mosul family. The family warmly welcomed us and told us that they will save us”, remembers the girl.

However, the girl says that after two hours, IS militants came to the house and took us back again. The family contacted IS to come to arrest the girls.

She revealed that IS militants took them back to the same house that they were imprisoned and that night, militants tortured them a lot as well as informing them that this is their punishment of escaping and either they will convert to Islam or they will be killed by tomorrow morning.

“We didn’t listened to them and didn’t convert to Islam, and they started to tortured us for two days,” said the girl.


Days later, they separated the four girls individually and locked them in a room each in a different house.

“One day I found a mobile phone in that room and I secretly called my uncle and my uncle surprised that I’m still alive. The night after, I checked the house door and the guard wasn’t there, so I decided to escape and I did it,” added the girl.

She continued, “When I escaped, the guard noticed me and followed me, but because it was the center of the city and bazaar, they couldn’t find me among all the crowds and I begged a man to rescue me that when I told him that I escaped from IS militants’.

Then the girl says that the man asked her to enter his car and left to the area and went to his house.

She said there were his wife, daughter and son and she told them that she has fled IS prison and asked for help.

“They asked me where to take me; I said Erbil or Duhok please”, begged the girl.

After two days, the man of the family decided to take the girl to Erbil as well as for his own medical treatment too.

“When we left IS borders, I called my uncle and they quickly came to take me and thanked the man as well as helped the man to Erbil to hospitals and clinics for his medical treatment,” concluded the girl.