A 19-year-old Yazidi woman has fled Germany with her family after encountering the "Islamic State" (IS) fighter who had enslaved her in Mosul on the streets of Schwäbisch Gmünd, a town in Baden-Württemberg.

Ashwaq Haji Hamid arrived in the southwestern state with her family in 2015 through a program aimed at assisting Yazidi women who had been subjected to violence by IS.

In 2014, IS committed what the UN concluded was a genocide of Yazidis in northern Iraq. The militant group also abducted scores of women and children, including Hamid, who were sold into slavery.

But while attempting to leave her past behind, she was confronted by her tormenter, who had kept her as a slave for 10 weeks.

"I ran away from Iraq so I would not see that ugly face and forget anything that reminds me of it, but I was shocked to see him in Germany," Ashwaq Haji Hamid told InfoMigrants, a news site about migration run by DW, France Medias Monde and Italy's ANSA agency.

"The first time was in 2016," she said. "He was chasing me. He was the same person, but the second time, he came close to me and told me he knew everything about me."

Read more: Can foreign 'Islamic State' fighters' kids return to Europe?

The plight of the Yazidi minority in Iraq The Yazidis: A history of persecution For hundreds of years, the Yazidi community has been persecuted for its religious views, an amalgamation of Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam. Throughout their history, they have been killed, forced to convert to other religions and even taken as slaves. While the Kurdish-speaking minority community in northern Iraq had been attacked before, 2014 marked a tragic turning point in history.

The plight of the Yazidi minority in Iraq Genocide In 2014, the "Islamic State" militant group launched a blitzkrieg campaign across Iraq and Syria, capturing large swathes of territory and laying waste to areas such as Mount Sinjar, the ancestral homeland of the Yazidis. More than 5,000 people were killed and up to 10,000 kidnapped, many of them children. The event was described by the UN as a genocide.

The plight of the Yazidi minority in Iraq Slavery The "Islamic State" abducted hundreds of girls and women and enslaved them in the wake of the assault. The militant group created a database of all the women, including pictures of them, to document who bought them and to ensure they do not escape. While dozens of women were able to escape, hundreds more remain missing.

The plight of the Yazidi minority in Iraq Missing Thousands of men, women and children remain missing. Critics have accused Iraqi authorities of doing little to find those who were abducted after Baghdad declared military victory over the militant group in December 2017. Family members fear that up to 3,000 Yazidis will remain indefinitely unaccounted for.

The plight of the Yazidi minority in Iraq Scattered In the wake of the "Islamic State" militant group's systematic assault on the Yazidis, many have fled to neighboring countries, Europe and beyond. While some families have found refuge outside their country, others have been forced to stay in camps in Iraqi Kurdistan. Although the UN is helping to rebuild houses in their ancestral homeland, many still believe IS poses a threat to their existence. Author: Lewis Sanders IV



Investigation underway, German authorities say

Hamid said she wanted to start a new life in Germany after facing atrocities by IS. She had notified police about the case, but added that it was impossible to feel safe knowing her former captor was still out there.

After reporting the second incident in February 2018 to the refugee center and local police, she says she was only offered a number to call in emergencies. That was when Hamid decided to leave.

"If I had not seen him, I would have stayed in Germany. I wanted to complete my studies and get a degree that would give me a decent life," she said.

Authorities confirmed on Friday that a 19-year-old had filed a complaint corresponding with Hamid's story. However, police in Baden-Württemberg say they did launch an investigation in March.

Local law enforcement put together a facial composite, but said the information Hamid provided was not accurate enough and that they were unable to match the name she gave them with any registered person.

Read more: No end to 'Islamic State' murders of Yazidis

Federal prosecutors took over the investigation in June, but by then Hamid was in Iraq with her family. The probe could not progress further because the "witness is currently unavailable" Baden-Württemberg police said in a Tweet on Wednesday.

The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office told Die Welt newspaper that preliminary proceedings into the case have been pending since July.

Watch video 04:37 Share Looking for kidnapped Yazidis Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/32ZKs Woman in Iraq searches for kidnapped Yazidis

Many women in Germany 'have stories similar to mine'

In 2014, more than 5,000 Yazidis were killed and up to 10,000 kidnapped by IS, according to UN figures. Five of Hamid's brothers and one of her sisters remain missing.

While UN authorities rebuild houses in the Yazidi's ancestral lands in northern Iraq, some feel that the threat of IS lingers.

Hamid's father said his family is still at risk in Iraq, especially after his daughter came forward to tell her story. He said he was hoping to reach a country where they could finally feel safe.

For the moment, Hamid lives with her mother and father at a camp in Iraqi Kurdistan. But she urged German authorities to ensure her fate does not befall other Yazidis seeking refuge in the country.

"I want nothing from the German government except for that man to be punished, for them to realize that there are a lot of other women in Germany who have stories similar to mine, and to protect them from IS in Germany," Hamid said.

New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters Hoping for help Perwin Ali Baku escaped the Islamic State after more than two years in captivity. The 23-year-old Yazidi woman was captured together with her 3-year-old daughter. "I don't feel right," she says, sitting on a mattress on the floor of her father-in-law's small hut in a northern Iraq refugee camp. "I still can't sleep and my body is tense all the time."

New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters Tormenting flashbacks When Perwin hears a loud voice, she cringes at the thought of her captors. She hopes for help at the newly established institute in Iraq, part of an ambitious project funded by the German state of Baden Württemberg that has already brought 1,100 women who had escaped Islamic State captivity to Germany for psychological treatment.

New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters Kabarto refugee camp Members of Germany's 100,000 strong Yazidi community reached out to help the women - and the Baden Württemberg state legislature approved a €95-million program ($106 million) over three years to bring women abused by the IS to Germany. Now, help is on the way on-site in Iraq.

New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters No trauma treatment - yet As fighting rages between Iraqi forces and the IS in Mosul only about 75 km from Dohuk, the number of victims that make it to freedom increases daily. 26 psychiatrists work in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq with its population of 5.5 million and more than 1.5 million refugees and internally displaced people. None specialize in treating trauma.

New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters Hope on the horizon German trauma specialist Jan Kizilhan, who has Yazidi roots but immigrated to Germany at the age of 6, is the driving force behind the new institute. The program will train local mental health professionals to treat people like Perwin and thousands of Yazidi women, children and other Islamic State victims.

New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters Training psychotherapists The idea is to train 30 new professionals for three years and then extend the program to other regional universities: in ten years' time, there could be more than 1,000 psychotherapists in the area. Students will receive a double master's degree in psychotherapy and psychotraumatology according to German standards, and training from both local and German professors.

New hope for Yazidi women tortured by IS fighters Duty to help Kizilhan has interviewed thousands of women in refugee camps - and more recently, prospective students for the program's inaugural class: "We are talking about general trauma, we are talking about collective trauma and we are talking about genocide. That's the reason we have to help if we can - it's our human duty to help them." Author: Nadine Berghausen



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