This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

The Chilling Story Of An 18-Year-Old Former ISIS Sex Slave Whose Legs Were Almost Amputated For Trying To Escape

She met several Indians during her captivity with ISIS.
Aji (surname redacted), a young Yazidi woman, who was sold as a sex slave after being captured by the ISIS when their village Kacho, in Iraq, fell to the marauding Da'esh fighters in 2014.
Sudhi Ranjan Sen
Aji (surname redacted), a young Yazidi woman, who was sold as a sex slave after being captured by the ISIS when their village Kacho, in Iraq, fell to the marauding Da'esh fighters in 2014.

She wears a friendship band on her slender wrist. Her face shows no emotion as she recounts how she was sold again and again to ISIS terrorists, in a voice that is even-pitched. Burn marks on her face are prominent. She is barely 18 but has been through hell and back.

Meet Aji (surname redacted), a young Yazidi woman, who was sold as a sex slave after being captured by the ISIS when their village Kacho, in Iraq, fell to the marauding Da'esh fighters in 2014.

In Kurdish, through an interpreter, she explained in short sentences how she was sold and used as a slave to as many as five Da'esh terrorists. The details are too graphic.

This reporter from HuffPost India met Aji on the sidelines of 19th Asian Security Conference organised by Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). She was here as the public advocate of the Yazidi community to speak on the topic of 'Women and Da'esh'.

"When Daesh entered our village, they took us prisoners. About 400 men and some elderly women of the village were killed and dumped in a mass grave. We were taken to Mosul and sold to ISIS terrorists. My sister and I were raped by the same man," she said through her translator and doctor, Mirza Dinnayi.

She was charged for trying to escape and produced in a Sharia court. The judge ordered that her feet be chopped off to prevent her from escaping. A Da'esh terrorist intervened and sought to sell her again. She was saved an amputation but was resold.

Giving a description of how the ISIS trades women as sex slaves she said: "my sister and I were kept in a big hall in Mosul with other Yazidi women. ISIS fighters came and bought us." A few days later she and her sister were returned to the ISIS only to be sold again to another ISIS terrorist as a sex slave.

The terrorist who bought her was even more brutal than the first. It was impossible to bear.

"I tried to commit suicide by slitting my wrist," she said adding, "I managed to escape but was caught and I was returned back to the same ISIS fighter". She was beaten like an animal and confined to an underground jail with no food or water. She was charged for trying to escape and produced in a Sharia court. The judge ordered that her feet be chopped off to prevent her from escaping. A Da'esh terrorist intervened and sought to sell her again. She was saved an amputation but was resold.

During her captivity she met several "ISIS terrorist from Hindi" (Arabic for Indian-origin people). According to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), over 62 Indians have joined the ISIS, some of whom are in Syria and Iraq. Others are in Afghanistan.

After nearly a year of captivity, Aji secretly managed to contact their relatives, who in turn had arranged a middleman to facilitate their escape for $7,500. When escaping they stepped on a mine, that blew Katherine and Almas – two other captives who were trying to escape - to pieces. Aji was lucky. She escaped with severe injuries but lost an eye.

She finally managed to flee from ISIS captivity on 15 April, 2016.

Also on HuffPost India:

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.