A freed ISIS sex slave has bravely described her ordeal of daily rape and violent beatings at the hands of the terror group as she seeks justice for the victims.
Kovan, now 24, was just 14 when she was taken prisoner in the Al Hol camp after IS collapsed in March 2019 under US-led pressure.
She said News from heaven of the terrible abuse she suffered at the hands of soldiers in hiding, of having been sold several times in territory claimed by ISIS and of having witnessed the rape of girls as young as ten years old.
The first man who “bought” her was twice her age and raped her alone every day for two years, she told the outlet.
When she tried to run away, he dragged her by her hair and told her he would kill her and “bury me in the backyard if she didn’t do what he wanted.”
Kovan bravely told Sky News of her ordeal, being sold into sexual slavery by IS.
She said women were complicit in the abuse, grooming captives to be raped.
Displaced Yazidis fleeing IS violence walk towards the Syrian border in 2014
File photo. Islamic State fighters march through the streets of Mosul, Iraq, in 2014
Kovan told Sky News she had not even started menstruating when she was “bought” by an IS soldier.
She said she believed she had been targeted because she was a Yazidi, referring to the religious group originating in the Kurdish regions of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran.
The Yazidis – and the Kurdish people in general – have suffered horrendous abuse and persecution by neighbouring groups for centuries.
In 2014, ISIS invaded the Yazidi ancestral homeland of Sinjar, killing thousands of people and trafficking thousands of young women and children into slavery.
Within days, nearly 10,000 people had been killed (shot, decapitated or burned alive) or kidnapped, according to the Public Library of Science’s journal PLOS Medicine.
Ten years on, as survivors in refugee camps mark the anniversary of the genocide, many are still missing or unidentified in the dozens of mass graves discovered.
Kovan was saved by the Syrian Democratic Forces during a daring raid in Al-Hol.
But even now he cannot return home, among thousands of victims spread across tent camps across Iraq, with Sinjar still in ruins.
The collapse of Islamic State control in the region prompted Kurdish authorities to take responsibility for the children Kovan gave birth to as a result of rape, fearing for their safety.
She said her two children were born as a result of rape committed by two men from the group.
Kovan believes they are both dead.
She said it was heartbreaking for her to be separated from her children and broke down as she said: “I love them, of course.”
This week, many Yazidis gathered to commemorate the anniversary of the Yazidi Genocide, carried out by the so-called Islamic State since August 3, 2014.
Many also gathered at a memorial service in Solagh, Sinjar, on Saturday to observe a minute of silence and sing traditional songs.
Crowds flocked to the “mothers’ grave” where 111 elderly women were shot dead or buried alive during IS’s horrific campaign.
Between 350,000 and 450,000 Yazidis in total are believed to have been displaced from Sinjar district during the tragedy, branded as “devil worshippers” by IS.
Mass graves continue to be found and discovered, revealing evidence of crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated by the terrorist group.
Today, more than 6.000 Women and children are believed to be held captive by IS and thousands of people are still missing. Sky reports the figure is closer to 3,000.
Nearly 200,000 Yazidis remain displaced by the genocide, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
While conditions in Sinjar remain dire, hundreds of survivors have escaped Iraq through programmes organised by Germany, Australia, the United States, Canada and the Netherlands.
Since 2021, Iraq has recognized the genocide and provided reparations to victims in the form of monthly income, land, and access to healthcare, livelihoods, and education.
But as of September 2023, only 1,052 survivors were reported to have received reparations, and challenges remain in providing support.
An Iraqi Yazidi woman mourns the loss of her family members during a genocide commemoration in Sinjar
A Yazidi woman visits her relatives at a cemetery during the commemoration in Sinjar on August 3.
Yazidis from Khanke prepare to return to their homes in Sinjar on June 24, 2024
A human skull in a mass grave of Yazidis in Sinjar, photographed in 2015 after the IS genocide
Yazidi lawyers today called for restorative justice in their plight over reparations.
“What we really need from Iraq and the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government), with the support of the international community, is a proper transitional justice legal framework,” said Natia Navrouzov of the Yazda organisation supporting the victims, as victims marked the anniversary.
‘All components of transitional justice: criminal accountability, truth-telling, reparations…
“What is really missing are guarantees of non-repetition. People are asked to return, but there is no guarantee that another genocide will not occur in five, ten or two years.”