Girls choose death over fear of rape

Captured Yazidi girls in Iraq are killing themselves to escape rape and torture at the hands of Isis (Islamic State) militants holding them prisoner.

Captured Yazidi girls in Iraq are killing themselves to escape rape and torture at the hands of Isis (Islamic State) militants holding them prisoner.

Hundreds of women and children were captured during the group's bloody sweep through northern Iraq this year and have since been trafficked as sex slaves, forced into marriage and imprisoned. Victims who managed to escape told Amnesty International that many Yazidi girls killed themselves after losing hope of being saved.

A 20-year-old survivor, called Luna, said she was held with 20 girls as young as 10 in the Isis-controlled city of Mosul when they were told to dress up. "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 woman, 27-year-old Wafa, said she and her sister attempted suicide while imprisoned in Mosul after the man holding them gave them the choice of marrying him and his brother or being sold as slaves. "At night we tried to strangle ourselves with our scarves," she told Amnesty. "Two girls who were held with us woke up and stopped us and then stayed awake to watch over us."

Relatives of girls who managed to escape fear the trauma will never leave them, reporting panic attacks and depression. The grandfather of a 16-year-old girl who was raped in Isis captivity said: "She is very sad and quiet all the time. She does not smile any more and seems not to care about anything. I worry that she may try to kill herself, I don't let her out of my sight."

Amnesty interviewed 42 women and girls for its report, "Escape from Hell". It chronicles the torture, rape and sexual violence suffered by women from the Yazidi minority. Women who converted to Islam were forced to marry Isis militants and those maintaining their faith have been trafficked as sex slaves, abused and imprisoned.

Videos have emerged online of "slave auctions" of girls in Mosul.

Thousands of people from the religious minority, who are viciously targeted by the Sunni extremist group because they are considered heretics, were driven from their homes in Sinjar by the Isis advance in August. Hundreds were killed in raids on towns and more died of thirst or starvation after fleeing up the remote Mt Sinjar.

Randa, a 16-year-old was abducted with scores of her family members and given to a man twice her age who raped her. "Daesh [Isis] has ruined our lives ... What will happen to my family? I don't know if I will ever see them again."

Some Yazidi girls forced into marriage have reported being taken to the homes of Isis fighters' families. Some received further abuse, while others made friends with their captor's wives. Several girls held by foreign fighters told Amnesty International their families helped them escape and one 13-year-old girl, who was held with her toddler sister, said her captor did not abuse them but instead sent them straight home to their family.

- Independent