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Interviewed on the German Deutsche Welle TV, a Yazidi teenager recounted how she and her family had been captured when ISIS attacked her village near Sinjar, Iraq. Pervin - not her real name - who was 15 years old at the time, said that the men, including her father, had been killed by ISIS and that over 5,000 Yazidi girls had been housed together in Mosul, where they had been beaten and sold into slavery. Girls as young as nine years old were raped, she said. Pervin, who tried to kill herself four times, eventually escaped, with the help of other Yazidis.
Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on March 22, 2016:
Interviewer: Pervin [not her real name] has been living in Germany as a refugee for eight months, after she managed to flee the captivity of ISIS terrorists.
[…]
Pervin: On August 3 [2014], ISIS attacked Sinjar, and then they attacked our village, Tal Qasab. We left the village and went to a village called Qaneh. We..
Interviewer: Who do you mean by "we"?
Pervin: The entire village.
Interviewer: Everybody, including your family? Your father and mother?
Pervin: The whole family.
[…]
Two cars came over, and the people said to us: "Don't leave." They took an oath. They swore by their religion. They said: "We promise that no harm will be done to you. We want to get you back to your homes. Just put down your weapons and raise a white flag, and no harm will be done to you." Naturally, we did not trust them.
Interviewer: Two people told you that?
Pervin: They came in two cars, but they were four.
Interviewer: Four ISIS terrorists?
Pervin: Yes.
Interviewer: They told you that they would not hurt you...
Pervin: They swore by Allah. They said: "We will not harm you. We want to take you back to your homes."
[…]
Interviewer: Okay. Then 17 men came... Or was it 17 cars?
Pervin: 17 cars.
Interviewer: Did you count the men?
Pervin: No, but they were many. They came and said... They separated the men from the women and children. They took all the men and left us women in the hall and locked the door.
Interviewer: When you say that they took all the men, do you mean that they took your father too?
Pervin: Sadly, yes. And also two of my brothers, and my uncles from both sides. They were all taken by them. My cousins as well.
Interviewer: That was the last time you saw your father?
Pervin: Yes, the last time.
Interviewer: What did they do? You were sitting there, and what happened?
Pervin: We were sitting there, and they entered the homes and started shooting. They said: "Nobody move!" They took all the men to a graveyard. The old men my father's age, who could not walk, were killed in the middle of the road.
Interviewer: Who told you that they had been killed?
Pervin: I saw my father's body with my own eyes.
Interviewer: Where?
Pervin: He was lying on the ground there. I tried running away to him... to his body... They didn't let me go to him when he was alive, so I tried going to his body after he had been killed, but one of them grabbed my hand and said: "Move and I'll kill you."
[…]
We heard shots. The sound of the bullets has not left my ears and never will.
Interviewer: And since then you didn't see your father...
Pervin: I haven't seen my father, my brothers, or my uncles. I haven't seen any of them, and there is no news whatsoever about them.
[…]
At night, they took us to Tal Afar.
Interviewer: You were with your mother?
Pervin: Right.
Interviewer: How long did you stay in Tal Afar?
Pervin: Three days.
Interviewer: Where did you stay?
Pervin: In a big school.
Interviewer: The women and children?
Pervin: Yes.
Interviewer: And then…
Pervin: There was no food or anything. They would just come, pick girls, and take them with them.
Interviewer: How did it work? You were sitting there, and they would come and choose the girls?
Pervin: They would choose any girl they wanted, against her will. If she would not go with them, they would kill her.
[…]
A 40-year-old man came over and took a 10-year-old girl. She wouldn't go with him, so he started beating her with stones. He would have shot her if she hadn't gone with him.
[…]
They took us to Badush Prison.
Interviewer: You were with your mother?
Pervin: Yes. We stayed there for a week, and then they came and took the older women, my mother's age. They took all the mothers, including mine. I cried a lot. I asked them to take me with my mother, but they wouldn't.
[…]
Interviewer: How many were you? It was a big group, right?
Pervin: There were 5,000 Yazidi girls there.
Interviewer: 5,000?!
Pervin: Yes. 5,000 Yazidi girls.
Interviewer: You were 5,000 girls in Badush Prison?
Pervin: No, by then we were in Mosul.
Interviewer: In Mosul, okay. What happened then? Did they take you to certain places? Did they take you to the slave market? Some human rights groups say that there is a slave market there. Did this happen to you?
Pervin: Yes.
Interviewer: What happened?
Pervin: We were in Mosul, and they would come and buy the girls, without paying money. They said to us Yazidi girls: "You are infidel slavegirls, and you will be bought and sold even for no price."
Interviewer: Do you remember being bought?
Pervin: Yes. They bought me and my friend.
Interviewer: Who bought you?
Pervin: Two men from Mosul.
Interviewer: Two ISIS members?
Pervin: Yes.
[…]
I cried a lot and said I was not going. I was with my friends, and I said I was not going. But he beat me so much. He beat me so much.
Interviewer: Even before he took you?
Pervin: Right. He said: "Why are you refusing to come with me?" Both me and my friend were beaten up.
Interviewer: How would you describe that man? Do you remember his age...?
Pervin: He was a beast, a real beast. If you could see him... There is no difference between him and an animal. Even animals have mercy in their hearts, but these people have none.
[…]
They tried really hard to make me convert.
Interviewer: They forced you?
Pervin: They did. They said: "You must become a Muslim. You are an infidel. You Yazidis and Christians are infidels. You must renounce your religion."
Interviewer: What did you do?
Pervin: I said that I'd rather die. He beat me a lot, until I fainted.
[…]
They did the worst things to us.
Interviewer: What did they do?
Pervin: Rape… 48 ISIS members were living in that house, and we were two girls, two Yazidi girls...
Interviewer: Were you owned by just one man, or did other men assault you too?
Pervin: Just one.
Interviewer: And the rest of the 48? Did you have any contact with them? Did you talk to them?
Pervin: They would make us cook for them and things like that.
[…]
They would rape any girl older than nine.
Interviewer: Did you try to commit suicide?
Pervin: Four times.
Interviewer: What did you do?
Pervin: Once I swallowed 150 pills.
[…]
Interviewer: What happened then?
Pervin: I suffered from poisoning.
Interviewer: Did they take you to the hospital?
Pervin: What hospital?! They beat me up.
[…]
Interviewer: Despite everything, you managed to escape. At what point?
Pervin: At night. We got out of the house at 19:55.
Interviewer: Who helped you?
Pervin: The Yazidi group. My brother and...
Interviewer: They came to the house?
Pervin: No, they couldn't.
Interviewer: So how did it happen?
Pervin: We left. It was a high mountain. We didn't know the way, but we left...
Interviewer: And they didn't notice?
Pervin: They did. Right after we left, they noticed. They started shooting at us, but we didn't stop. The most important thing was to get away from there. They were shooting at us, but we didn't stop or go back.
[…]
Interviewer: And then you came to Germany…
Pervin: Yes, me and my mother.
Interviewer: Your mother was extricated from there.
Pervin: Yes.
[…]
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