Former ISIS Sex-slaves Share Stories of Abuse
- Updated Aug 20, 2015
The Islamic State is kidnapping and raping hundreds of Yazidi and Christian young women and they are not attempting to hide it.
New York Times correspondent Rukmini Callimachi, who covers Islamic extremism, recently interviewed 21 women and girls in Iraq who had escaped from sex slavery at the hands of Islamic State militants.
One girl as young as 12 reported that she was bound, gagged, and raped by an Islamic State fighter. The girl said her captor would pray before he raped her and pray again after, explaining to her that, according to the Quran, he was allowed to rape her because she was an “infidel.”
“I kept telling him it hurts--please stop,” the girl said in an interview conducted in an Iraqi refugee camp. “He said that by raping me, he is drawing closer to God,” the girl, whose body Callimachi said is so small an adult could circle her waist with two hands, continued.
There are many other similar reports from other women and girls.
In fact, the Islamic State is unapologetic about condoning sex slavery. The New York Times report states that ISIS fighters use sex trafficking and rape to strengthen their campaign and get more young men to join them.
The Islamic State leaders have also published theological arguments in their online magazine, Dabiq, explaining why the rape of infidels is permitted by their religion and defending slavery.
Sex slavery within the Islamic State is rampant. Recently, the existence of a sex-slave pricing list was confirmed, as were reports of ISIS militants rewarding the winner of a Quran-memorization contest with a female sex slave.
Callimachi stated that the Islamic State’s plan for capturing young women and girls to sell and use as sex slaves is a calculated one that they don’t intend to hide from the world.
Publication date: August 20, 2015
