Shafaq News / Seven grim years lived by the last Yazidi survivor, who was kidnapped when she was barely 13 years old.
At the age of 21, Siban Khalil Ismail seems more mature to tell the details of her, her family's, and a group of women's slavery story under the thumb of ISIS terrorists when they entered her village of Kojo in Sinjar district, west of Mosul.
Siban began her speech to Shafaq News agency recounting the worst she has experienced in nearly 2,490 days, "In mere moments, screams and shrieks filled the streets as men, women, and children were killed or enslaved and became the victims of sexual and physical violence."
She was barely thirteen years old when ISIS controlled her city, "They gathered women in a big school, took the youth and the elderly, killed the youth and detained the adults. The women and children were dispersed in Mosul, and then began their journey to Raqqa.
"I was injured in my abdomen during the shelling of the headquarter where I was detained in, in Raqqa. I was operated on by ISIS elements; I lived difficult days that deprived me of all my dreams," Siban continued.
"Men that I did not know or want used my body, and I was sold every month to marry someone I have not seen before. I have been subjected to severe sexual violence, which consequently caused me gynecological diseases," Siban said.
She added in tears, "It is customary for the reproductive system to be ineligible to marry at this age. I have been subjected to all kinds of physical violence and severe beatings, besides working as a maid washing dishes and cooking."
Siban added that her last marriage was to a Lebanese ISIS militant who decided to take her to Lebanon through smuggling. However, before arriving in Daraa, a mine exploded on their vehicle.
"He [her last husband] and the smuggler were killed immediately, while I injured my foot. Nonetheless, I decided to walk and get to a village despite the fatigue and wounds. Finally, I reached my destination where a family took me in, and I spent one year with them while looking for my family," she continued.
"I decided to look for my family and went to the Yazidi house in al-Hasakah where I stayed for two weeks. Then, through a smuggler who brought me to Sinjar where I only stayed for hours, I came back to my family," Siban said.
The Yazidi survivor also added, "I just want to complete my studies and live to take the right of all Yazidi women who suffered the same as me."
On Sunday, August 1, 2021, the Western Nineveh Operations Command announced freeing Siban from ISIS from inside Syrian territory in a joint intelligence operation.