Nadia Murad .. From Kucho to Noble Prize

kholoud alamiry·29/03/2019·4562 comments

The slave market was opened at night. We heard a noise in the basement while we were being registered. Then all the girls were screaming when the first man entered the room. It was like an explosion scene. We groaned to each other with wounds, and bowed to the ground, but it did not work. The men were walking around the room, staring at us while  we screamed and begged them to leave us alone. The men were attracted to the most beautiful girls first, and asked us the following question: “How old are you?” . They examined the women’s hair and lips. They asked the question: “They are virgins, are not they?” Replied one guard, who shook his head and said, “Of course!” They allowed the ISIS fighters to touch every part of our body.

The men scouring the girls and asking questions in several languages.

The gunmen continued shouting at us, “Calm down!” “Be quiet!” , But their orders made us shout out louder. An armed man took me. I began to push back the hands that tried to touch me. The other girls may be the same, their bodies bent into balls on the ground or they throw themselves into the arms of their sisters and friends struggling to protect themselves.

While I was lying there, another armed gunman stopped in front of us. He was a senior ranked ISIS armed member called for Sloan who had come with another girl, and another young Ezidi from Hardan, who was intending to leave while he was making his way to replace the other girl. He said, “Stand up.” When I did not stop, he kicked me. “You! The girl with the pink sweater! I told you, stop!

His eyes were buried deep in the flesh of his broad face. He did not seem to be a man; he looked more like a monster.

The attack on Sinjar, “northern Iraq,” and the looting of everything and kidnapping of girls were not just to making them a sexual and emotional slaves. ISIS have planned for everything from the very start: how they will come to our homes. What is even graver? They also discussed the “girls” in their glossy magazine called “Dabeq”, but ISIS is not new as its members know. Rape has been used throughout history as a weapon of war. I never thought that I had anything with the women in Rwanda. I did not know before  Rwanda existed, and now I have become one of the worst case and a victim of a war, ISIS did not exist in Afghanistan, but it now exists in Sinjar.

A year before the arrival of ISIS to Sinjar, on the lower floor, one of the gunmen of ISIS was urging us to record deals in a register, he would write down our names and the names of those fighters who took us. I was thinking about what had happened to me, I was thinking was it real? No matter what he did to me, and no matter how hard I resisted, still I would not be able to restrain him. He smelt like a rotten eggs and cologne aftershave.

I was looking at the floor, on my feet and my ankles were serene and girls and ISIS members walking in front of me. In the middle of the crowd, I saw a pair of sandals and ankles that were slender, before I thought about what I was doing, I throw ,myself my at the feet at the woman. I began to beg. I said, “Please, take me with you.” “Do whatever you want, but I can not go with this giant.” Without discussing the matter with Silwan. The thin man was a judge in Mosul, and no one could refuse his orders. I followed the slim guy to his office. He asked me, “What’s your name?” He spoke softly but harshly. I answered and said “Nadia,” and the man turned to the registrar list. Our names were written as “Nadia: Haji Salman” – when he spoke of the name of my captors, I barely heard his voice, as if I had been wronged.

Nadia Murad eventually survived her kidnappers. She was smuggled from Iraq, and at the beginning of 2015, she moved to Germany as a refugee. Later that year, a campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking ended.

In November 2015, a year later and months after the provocative occupation of the cities of Koshu, Nadia left Germany for Switzerland to speak before a huge audience. “That was the last time I told my story to a large audience. Can I talk about everything, the children who died because of the drought? I have been one of the survivors. My society have been fragmented, and now live in and out of Iraq, and Kushu is occupied by ISIS. Is there much that the world needs to hear what is happening to Eezidis?” She says.

“I wanted to tell them there was a lot that needs to be done. We need to establish a safe haven for religious minorities in Iraq, and a courageous trial of ISIS and hold them accountable for their crimes, from leaders to citizens who have supported their atrocities, especially those who are responsible for committing genocide and crimes against humanity, and the liberation of all Sinjar is a must. I had to talk to the public about Haji Salman, the times he raped me and all the abuses I saw with my eyes. The decision to be outspoken is one of the most difficult decisions I have taken, and most importantly, absolutely.” Murad said so.

“I was shocked when I read my own speech. I spoke as quietly as possible about how Kushu was occupied, and how girls were taken away like me.” She told them how she was raped and beaten repeatedly, and how she eventually escaped. I told them about my brothers who were killed. She said that ” It is not easy to tell your story. Every time you talk about it, you revive it and relive the same trauma. When someone told me about the checkpoint, how the men raped me, or the dark sky of Mosul, while I was searching the neighborhood for a sign of help, I went back to those moments and all their horrors. My memories come back to the other Ezidis as well.” I gave my speech angrily, and when my told my story, I continued talking and raising awareness of what had happened to me and the Ezidi people in general.

My story, truthfully, was my best weapon against terrorism, and I plan to use it until these terrorists are tried and are held accountable. There is still a lot of action to be done. World leaders, especially Muslim religious leaders, need unity for the protection of the oppressed people.

I have given my brief speech. When I finished telling my story, I kept talking. I told them that I personally and all Ezidi  people wanted to sue and hold accountable those who are responsible for committing a genocide, and that we could help and protect the weak  and fragile all over the world. I told them I wanted to look at the men who raped me with my eyes, and I watched them go to justice and tried in a fair court. More important than anything else I told them that I want to be the last girl in the world to have a story like my story.

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