Former ISIS Member: After My Husband Died, the Emir Gave Me as a Gift to Various ISIS Members

A former ISIS member by the name of Aya was interviewed on Al-Hurra TV (U.S.) on November 23, 2018. She said that when she arrived with her husband to Al-Raqqa, it was an Islamic state that had fatwas, slave girls, servant girls, and an emir. She said that she had joined the female police in order to avoid becoming a slave girl. When her husband died, she became the emir's fourth wife, and he later divorced her because she was suffering from sexual frigidity. She was then given as a gift to the emir's assistant, who used her only to satisfy his urges. When the emir's assistant died, she was given to another man, who would tie her up with ropes for a day or two. Aya finally found somebody who was willing to help her escape, and she said that she was willing to give him anything in return for his help, including her body. She said that she would have been willing to die in order to escape.

Following are excerpts:

 

Aya: When [my husband and I] arrived at Al-Raqqa, it was an entirely different world. Life there was not life. When we arrived there, it was an Islamic state with fatwas, slave girls, servant girls, an emir…

Interviewer: Yet you joined them and worked with them.

Aya: I had no other choice. I could not go back. My only choice was to work with them so that they would not turn me into a slave girl.

 

[…]

 

I was assigned to the female police, which they call hesba.

Interviewer: What did you think of the ISIS laws that you were enforcing against other women? Was there any justice in these laws? Did you believe in those laws? Were you pleased by them?

Aya: They were draconian laws. These laws were very unfair to women. They were very unjust. If a woman did not abide by any of their laws, she would be sent to their mufti and he could do whatever he wanted.

 

[…]

 

Interviewer: How did you feel when you heard that your husband died?

Aya: I was shocked and became even more depressed.

Interviewer: Why? Was it because you remained alone? Was it because you loved him? Or was it because you were far away from home? Why did you feel like that?

Aya: I had left my family for him. I had left my family and my people and followed him [to Al-Raqqa]. When he died, I was left with no one there – I had no family and no friends. I had no one but him, and he died.

Interviewer: What happened after he died?

Aya: The emir gave me two options. I could either marry him or become his servant girl.

Interviewer: What did you choose?

Aya: I chose to marry him and become wife number four.

 

[…]

 

Interviewer: Did this emir leave you only because of the sexual frigidity you were suffering from?

Aya: Yes.

Interviewer: What caused it?

Aya: It was caused by all the things I had seen there, and because of the way I was being treated. My husband died and…

Interviewer: What did he do with you when he found out that you were frigid and unfit to be his wife?

Aya: He gave me to his assistant.

Interviewer: He gave you?

Aya: Yes, to his assistant.

Interviewer: As a gift?

Aya: Yes, as a gift.

Interviewer: Who was this assistant?

Aya: He was from Asia.

Interviewer: Did you accept him?

Aya: Yes, I had no other choice.

Interviewer:  And how did this Asian man treat you? You did not speak the same language. How did you communicate?

Aya: They don't care about all that. They only care about satisfying their needs.

 

[…]

 

After a while I was informed that he had also died.

Interviewer: Were you happy that he died?

Aya: I was happy but it didn't last long.

Interviewer: Why?

Aya: Because then the emir gave me to an African man.

 

[…]

 

Interviewer: Aya, how did this African man treat you?

Aya: He treated me with cruelty and violence. He had no mercy, no compassion. He was the worst of them all.

Interviewer: How did he treat you? In what way was he more cruel than the others?

Aya: He was capable of beating, raping, killing, anything… Sometimes he would tie me up with ropes and leave me like that for a day or two – all for the purpose of satisfying his needs.

Interviewer: Did he tie you with ropes to the bed?

Aya: Yes.

Interviewer:  What happened afterwards?

Aya: then, I decided to try running away. I found a person and he helped me escape.

Interviewer: How did he do that?

Aya: We agreed that he would help me escape, and in exchange I would give him anything he wanted – my money, my body… I was willing to give him whatever he wanted.

Interviewer: So once again you were taken advantage of?

Aya: This time it was my initiative, so that I could escape.

Interviewer: You were ready to sacrifice anything.

Aya: I was even ready to die, as long as it would get me out of there.