WATCH: Rescued Ezidi girl from Mosul leaves Germany after running into same IS abuser

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A rescued Yezidi (Ezidi) girl says she has returned to the Kurdistan Region from Germany after being left in shock with repeatedly seeing the same Islamic State (IS) abuser who bought her in Mosul.

Ashwaq is an Ezidi girl who was captured and enslaved by the extremist group in 2014 after IS occupied Sinjar (Shingal), a hometown for the minority group located in the province of Nineveh near the Syrian border.

After being held by IS for nine months, she was abused and tortured as well as sold in IS’ sex slave markets.

Speaking to Kurdistan 24, Ashwaq said she was sold to an IS member for three months. His name was Mohammed Rashid from Baghdad, commonly known as Abu Humam.

“We experienced different kinds of torture, abuse, and harassment 24/7,” she said. “When IS deprived us of our family, we predicted such bitter experiences in the beginning.”

After escaping from the group in 2015, she was sent from the Kurdistan Region to Germany as part of a program to provide psychological treatment to women kidnapped and abused by IS.

There are many stories of kidnapped Ezidi women, but what differentiates Ashwaq from other rescued Ezidi girls is that IS did not stop chasing her even in Germany.

She says the same IS member that tortured and abused her in Iraq is walking freely in Germany’s Stuttgart right now.

“I was in Germany for three years. They did everything they could for us,” Ashwaq said.

“In 2016, I saw that IS man in Germany’s Stuttgart. He chased me to my house. I thought maybe I was wrong, and it was not him.”

Ashwaq said she decided to forget the encounter and move on after her grandmother convinced her IS members cannot be in Germany.

“In 2018, I saw him again in a white car driving slowly next to me,” she added, stating he knew it was me and introduced himself as Abu Humam.

After reporting the incident to German police, Ashwaq was left disappointed as police told her they could not arrest him without any evidence.

According to Ashwaq, she was afraid of being kidnapped by the same IS abuser in Germany. So, she decided to return to the Kurdistan Region and live with her father in a displaced persons camp.

In Ashwaq’s family alone, IS kidnapped 77 persons since 2014, and 41 are yet to be rescued or found, according to her father, Hajji Hamid Ta’lo.

So far, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Ezidi rescue office has freed over 3,000 Ezidis kidnapped by IS, with at least 3,000 more yet to be liberated.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Additional reporting Masoud Mohammed)