It was four years ago today when ISIS militants stormed 14-year-old Ekhlas’ home town, waving their black flag above their heads.
They killed Ekhlas’ father in front of her eyes. Terrified, she ran as fast as she could. But it wasn’t long before she was captured by ISIS fighters, along with thousands of other women.
She belongs to an ethnic Kurdish group, the oldest in Iraq, called the Yazidis – a primary target of ISIS.
“My life was beautiful,” Ekhlas told Fiona Lamdin of the BBC. “But two hours changed my entire life”.
Listen: The CEO and Founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Kon Karapanagiotidis is an Australian to be proud of. Listen to our interview on Fighting For Fair. Post continues below.
Ekhlas was raped every day for the next six months.
When she arrived at the prison, all she could hear was screaming and crying.
“Everyone was starving,” she said. “They weren’t feeding anyone.”
She watched as a man who was over the age of 40, took a 10-year-old girl to use as his sex slave. “I’ll never forget those screams,” she told the BBC. “Mama… mama.”
