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Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) aired on February 15, 2024 a detailed interview with Asmaa Mohamed, the first wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who was killed by American forces in 2019. Mohamed said that ISIS was a “black stain” on history, that it is over, and she does not think it will be resurrected. She told Al-Arabiya Network that ISIS had become “obsessed” with women, that she estimates Al-Baghdadi kept more than 10 Yazidis slave girls, one of whom was a child who stayed with her own children for two months. She said that all ISIS emirs kept Yazidi slave girls. Mohamed said that slavery is unacceptable for any human being in the 21st century. She said that all Al-Baghdadi cared about was conquest and his personal security, and that ISIS dreamt about conquering Rome. Asmaa Mohamed, along with other family members of Al-Baghdadi have been repatriated in Iraq recently. It is assumed they were held in Turkey until now.
Asmaa Mohamed: "[Al-Baghdadi] became arrogant. He did not care anymore about the people around him. All heard cared about was conquests and his personal security, how they can expand the [Islamic] State... They had big dreams about conquering Rome... In my view, these were all fairy tales.
[...]
"Before the Caliphate was declared, he married a Syrian woman, from Aleppo. Her name was Aesha Qatmawi and she had five children. She was married to the leader of one of the factions in Syria. She lived in Saudi Arabia after her husband was killed, but she came from Saudi Arabia to Syria in order to marry Al-Baghdadi. So she married Al-Baghdadi, and immediately after the Caliphate was announced, he married a third woman, a 14-year old Iraqi. She was the daughter of someone close to him, Abdallah Al-Zobaie."
Interviewer: "What about his Chechen wife?"
Mohamed: "Her he married in July 2015.
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"[His third wife] was a child, the same age as my children. This marriage was done."
Interviewer: "What about the Chechen woman?"
Mohamed: "We knew nothing about her either. We were at home, during the Ramadhan, and this foreign woman walked in, and he said she was his wife.
[...]
Interviewer: "Some people say that Al-Baghdadi had nine or ten Yazidi slave girls."
Mohamed: "I can tell you that there may have been even more. I did not see them, but because of the obsession about women back then, the Islamic State turned into a 'women' state. With regard to taking slave girls, as a matter of faith, I believe that this was mentioned in the Quran – 'whom your right hands possess'. However, this was normal at a certain point in time, but in my view, in this day and age, in the 21st or 22nd century, slavery has become unacceptable for any human being.
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"None of the [captured] Yazidi women stayed with me. Maybe just for 2-3 days, or maybe a week. The most any one of them stayed with was maybe two months. Her name is Riham. She was a child and stayed with my children. With regard to the rest of the Yazidi women, I did not know where he was taking them, or what he was doing with them. They were not part of my circle."
Interviewer: "It was said that he gave one of the Yazidi women to Abu Mohammad al-Adnani..."
Mohamed: "I have no knowledge of these details. All I know is that all of them owned Yazidi women. All the emirs owned Yazidi women."
Interviewer: "Some Yazidi women who managed to escape from this ISIS hell testified that they were raped by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi."
Mohamed: "I cannot confirm or deny this, but this is very possible. Back then, he and the entire ISIS organization became..."
Interviewer: "Obsessed?"
Mohamed: "Obsessed, barbaric... They had a thirst for it. They became inhuman in this regard.
[...]
"I believe that ISIS is a black [stain] in history, and it is over. Women should become more knowledgeable. They should not follow this dream, this illusion. ISIS is over and I do not think it will be resurrected."
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Interviewer: "Were you [women] asked to carry out suicide operations?"
Mohamed: "He suggested that we wear explosive belts, but we completely refused this. We have children. I could not do such a thing. I have children. I am thinking about their future. Allah prohibited suicide..."
Interviewer: "But he committed suicide when the U.S. forces got to him, and he also killed his son and two of his wives."
Mohamed: "With regard to the killing of his son, I don't know how a human being can do that. He was a child, none of it was his fault. How could he kill a child who has done nothing wrong? This was very painful to me..."
Interviewer: "Even your 12-year-old daughter whom he married off..."
Mohamed: "Yes. Yes. This is the true nature of this organization."
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