Hundreds, and possibly even thousands, of Yazidi women from northern Iraq are feared to have been forced into marriage, sold as slaves, or been given as "gifts" to Islamic State (IS) fighters and their supporters, leading some to end their own lives or kill each other to avoid torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence at the hands of their captors.
Amnesty International released a shocking report called Escape from Hell: Torture and Sexual Slavery in Islamic State Captivity in Iraq yesterday, relating the harrowing experience suffered by many Yazidi girls and women abducted by IS fighters.
"Many of those held as sexual slaves are children—girls aged 14, 15 or even younger. IS fighters are using rape as a weapon in attacks amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Response Adviser, who spoke to more than 40 former captives in northern Iraq.
One of the captives, 20-year-old Luna, recounted how one girl resorted to suicide.
She told Amnesty International, "We were 21 girls in one room, two of them were very young, 10 to 12 years.
"One day we were given clothes that looked like dance costumes and were told to bathe and wear those clothes.
"Jilan killed herself in the bathroom. She cut her wrists and hanged herself. She was very beautiful. I think she knew that she was going to be taken away by a man and that is why she killed herself."
Another former captive, Wafa, talked about how she and her sister tried to kill themselves while being held in Mosul.
She said, "The man who was holding us said that either we marry him and his brother or he would sell us.
"At night we tried to strangle ourselves with our scarves. We tied the scarves around our necks and pulled away from each other as hard as we could, until I fainted.
"Two girls who were held with us woke up and stopped us and then stayed awake to watch over us. When they fell asleep at 5am we tried again, and again they woke up and stopped us. I could not speak for several days after that."
Several of those who escaped said they were held in their captors' homes with their captors' wives, children, parents, and siblings.
The IS, bent on wiping out ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq, persecute non-Arab and non-Sunni Muslims, as well as Arabs and Sunni Muslims who oppose them. However, members of the Yazidi faith, particularly women and children, receive the brunt of the armed group's brutality.
The IS, seeking to legitimise their atrocities against abducted Yazidi women, stated in their publication Dabiq, "After capture, the Yazidi women and children were then divided according to the Sharia amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar operations...
"Before Satan reveals his doubts to the weak-minded and weak-hearted, one should remember that enslaving the families of the kuffār [infidels] and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shariah."
The Yazidis practise an ancient monotheistic religion that worships the "Peacock Angel," which some Muslims consider to represent Satan. Due to this, the Yazidis have been accused of devil worshipping and persecuted for centuries.
