Yazidi sex slaves share their real-life, tragic terror stories: Part I (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)

'The first night nine girls tried to flee. They tied their clothes together to make a rope and lowered themselves out of the window...'

In August 2014, the northern Iraqi city of Sinjar was attacked by Islamic extremists. Over 5,000 Yazidi women were captured that month and forced into slavery. Since then, many have escaped with their lives but must live with horrific memories and, for some, with the children of their rapists.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Fifteen Yazidi sex slave survivors have stepped forward to share their experiences at the hands of the ISIS militants who killed their families and used them over and over before selling them to other extremists who used and resold them again. 

The women's stories appear on the Daily Mail, where it is explained that Seivan Salim, an Iraqi female photographer, was able to find some of the women who escaped slavery. Each woman was pictured in a traditional white Yazidi wedding dress in a touching move to proclaim their purity.

Twenty-one-year-old Perla was captured August 15, 2014 and survived for ten months before her escape. She described her frightening experience from the moment ISIS arrived to the day she was able to flee:

"When ISIS came everyone fled to the mountain, but the militants captured them on the way and told them to stay in the village where they would be safe. They said that we would be freed. They lied. They took us to Syria by bus. I was with around four hundred other girls. 

"The man who chose me was very angry; he beat me and threatened to shoot me. He told me he would help reunite me with my parents who he claimed were almost certainly dead. I told him if he knew they were dead then he should kill me too. He took us to a farm where we hardly ate anything for eight days. They registered our names then they sold us again. Each time they took around four or five girls and sold them. Then came back again to take more of us. 

"One person bought me and brought me to Raqqa. He took me to an underground prison. I stayed there with other girls for twelve days. They came and hit my friends because they didn't convert to Islam. One day they came to sell me again. There were five men one of whom was French. He asked me if I knew how to cook and if I spoke Arabic. I told him I didn't. 

"He told me that I would learn and took me with him. He only took me to sell me again, this time to an old man from Saudi Arabia who lived with a Jordanian. I stayed in their house where they brought me a black abaya and some food. They left me in a room on the ground floor without locking it. I put on the abaya and ran away."

Rooba, 28, was also captured August 15, 2014 and was a slave for ten months. She spoke of others to attempted to run and how the Islamist extremists responded:

"We were in Tal Afar for two months then they brought us to Raqqa in Syria. There were about three hundred of us girls there, in a big hall. All the women had babies who cried because they were so hungry. The children were only given one egg a day. 

"The first night nine girls tried to flee. They tied their clothes together to make a rope and lowered themselves out of the window, but the ISIS fighters found them and brought them back. They hit all of us because we didn't tell them about their escape. 

"They put us all in a big room, locked the door and didn't give us any water. Then one day they brought us to another building. On the front was written something like 'area for selling' and there I was sold to a forty year-old man from Saudi Arabia. 

"He asked me to marry him and when I refused he pointed to three objects sitting on his table; a knife, a gun, and rope. He said he'd use all three if I didn't say yes. I refused over and over again, so he beat me. He beat my niece, who is only 3 years-old. 

"I was sold again, this time to a single man who wanted to marry me. I refused with all my might and again was beaten, and again they beat my little niece. He tried to rape me and when he couldn't he sold me again. 

"In the new house I did all the work: cleaning, cooking and washing. The man who bought me said that he had to sleep with me to make me a real Muslim. I told him that if he slept with me I would become his wife and then I would not be a slave any more. His wife threatened to leave if he slept with me. 

"She got very angry at my niece because she couldn't speak Arabic: she put pepper in her mouth and locked her in a room without water; she beat her so much you can still see the wounds today.
"They wouldn't let me change her diapers for a week. We were only allowed to eat small portions of food because after all we were slaves and we shouldn't expect to have much food."

Another woman, 18-year-old Nasira, was captured August 15, 2014 and was held as a slave for eleven months before she ran:

"When ISIS arrived they tried to convert us to Islam. We all just cried, even my father. They brought us all to a school, took all our money and possessions. We heard that they killed four trucks full of men from our village. 

When we heard the planes flying overhead I prayed they would bomb our men. It would have been better than being killed by ISIS. I also wished they drop bombs on us. I'd preferred to be killed by shelling than be captured by ISIS. 

"I was not sold but they brought me to Raqqa in Syria and gave me to a Saudi family as a gift, as a slave. I stayed there for eight months. They brought us to the school to teach us the Quran. 
"I saw the beheaded and crucified body of a YPG fighter [Syrian Kurdish militia fighting ISIS]. It was terrible."

Thirty-year-old Syhan was captured the same day as Nasira and served as a slave for ten months. Sadly, she was impregnated by her extremist captors but was able to escape during her eighth month. She remained in Turkey for two months until her child was born and returned to northern Iraq.

Unfortunately, she was unable to bring her son home with her and she is unaware of his current location.

Twenty-two-year-old Azhin, captured August 15, 2014 and held for eleven months, was imprisoned when she was initially captured. She was held in Raqqa for fifteen days and described the militant extremists as "animals."

She described how slaves were traded "like you would a car" and explained she was purchased by a man from Saudi Arabia, who lived with two other men:

"I begged him to let me be with my sister. He hit me on the head with his pistol until I bled. They didn't take me to the hospital. Instead they took me back to the prison while I was still unconscious. My sister was sold three days later and I was heartbroken. 

"But, we were reunited when I was sold later - along with seven other girls - to the same people. We were kept in a house during the day. Different men would come and pick us up for the night. We stayed like that for five months. There was not enough food and we couldn't wash. I was sold again.

"This time for two months to a man from Tajikistan. He was later killed fighting, so I was sold again, and then again, but this time I was given as a present. I was forced to have sex up to six times per night. They always fastened my legs and arms when they raped me. 

"One time I tried to run away but they caught me again. They didn't feed me for six days and three times a day they would give me twelve lashes with a cable. I didn't know anything about my mum, dad, and brothers. All I know is that my sisters were captured too."

Delvin, a 27-year-old woman, was captured August 15, 2014 and enslaved for four months. She described how she was taken to a school with other women, where they were held for two months. The women were sent to different places before arriving at Raqqa. She waited twelve days then was sold to a Syrian family:

"I was pregnant and I had other children with me. They were very cruel to us. Even though I was pregnant they would beat me and try to have sex with me. If I didn't accept to have sex with the men of the family, they would force me anyway. 

"They raped me over and over again. I was sold again, this time to a family from Saudi Arabia. They took one of the boys who was with me to be trained as a jihadi. I never saw him again. I stayed there for a month and a half. I moved again to another city where my baby was born. I was raped there too, despite the fact that I just had given birth."

Sadly, Yazidi minorities continue to be persecuted by ISIS militants and are victims of rape, abuse and worse. Part II of the victim's accounts can be read here

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