Yazidi women describe rape by Australian Islamic State members

Description

ABC Australia’s “7.30 Report” program, as later reported by The Daily Telegraph, interviewed four Yazidi women who had been captives of Islamic State jihadists Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, both Australian nationals. The program, which aired January 22, gave details alleging that the two men had bought, raped, and tortured Yazidi women and girls whom Sharrouf bought from a slave yard.

The women claimed that even Sharrouf’s children were taught to threaten and torture the Yazidi girls. “[They] said that they would make a video while cutting off our heads,” said one woman on the program of the children’s threats.

The women said they were detained in a house in Raqqa, where Sharrouf lived with his wife and children on one floor and Elomar on another. The women reported that, throughout their captivity, Elomar would either rape or hold the constant threat of rape over them.

Both men achieved international notoriety last year when photos were posted of Sharrouf’s young son holding up the heads of Syrian soldiers, and when Elomar took the sale of some Yazidi captives online on Twitter, where one girl was advertised for sale.

The exact dates of the reported sexualized violence are unknown. Because Syrian government officials currently refuse to allow access to journalists, researchers, and aid workers, WMC's Women Under Siege cannot independently verify this report of sexualized violence in Syria.