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Face of Raw Courage: Brave Yazidi Teenager kidnapped by ISIS
The face of raw courage: Brave Yazidi teenager was kidnapped by jihadis and sold into sexual slavery before being injured in an explosion as she made a daring dash for freedom
Lamiya Haji Bashar was condemned to sex slavery by Islamic State members
She tried to escape many times but was hauled back, sold, attacked and raped
The teen was injured when she escaped after another teen stepped on a mine
Lamiya hopes to go to university and is raising awareness of the Yazidi slaves
The brave teenager endured a horrific tale of savagery far beyond anyone’s worst nightmare. Above she tells her story to Ian Birrell in Germany
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Lamiya was one of the several thousand Yazidi women and girls condemned to sex slavery, traded like animals and abused by barbarous fanatics. Another year of fear, agony and assaults lay ahead of her, held captive by a cruel surgeon, who traded kidnapped women and children when not stitching up wounded jihadis.
But now Lamiya is free, though even her escape was etched in pain and tragedy. She was injured in an explosion that left extensive physical scars on her face to go with the deep psychological scars on her mind.
I met Lamiya in a quiet hotel in Germany, where this extraordinary, softly spoken young woman told me her story – a tale of savagery far beyond anyone’s worst nightmare.
She heard her father and brothers being shot, was enslaved by their cruel killers, and then beaten and raped for almost two years by a succession of older men.
During her time trapped in the IS heartland of Syria and northern Iraq, Lamiya saw children sold to old men as sex slaves, and she was forced to help make suicide bombs. At one point Lamiya was thrown into a room to be gang-raped by 40 fanatics. Yet she never buckled. ‘These men were more than monsters,’ she says. ‘That’s why I stayed strong, because I wanted to challenge the life they gave me.’
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Now, showing remarkable courage, she has taken the unusual step for her gender, her religion and her region, in speaking openly about the horrors.
It is hard to believe that she is still only 18. Lamiya’s stance was recognised last month with the EU’s top human rights award – the Sakharov Prize. Nadia Murad, another Yazidi sex slave survivor, was also honored.
Their stories remind the world that so many more Yazidi women and girls remain caught in similarly appalling circumstances by bigots who view them as infidels due to their ancient beliefs.
The 400,000-strong Yazidi community is persecuted by extreme Muslims for devil-worship since their religion, blending aspects of ancient Middle East traditions, reveres an angel which takes the form of a blue peacock. I first broke news about their plight in 2014.
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz4V8UgRkpV
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 OMG this story is so tragic but what a brave girl. Here we are making jokes, laughing, talking about our faves and safe in our homes but the disgusting things that happens to other unfortunate people out there 
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