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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Over a hundred Yezidi families who paid to rescue their mothers and daughters from the clutches of the Islamic State (ISIS) say they have now been reimbursed by the Kurdish government.A total of one million dollars has been paid in the past week to the families of 153 freed Yezidis, according to Khairi Bozani, the director-general for Yezidi affairs at the ministry of religious affairs in Erbil.Of nearly 6,000 Yezidis that were captured by ISIS when the group invaded Shingal (Sinjar) province in August 2014, almost 2,600 have since been freed.In the beginning, some women managed to escape on their own, but since it became more difficult rescue networks have been set up in the Kurdistan Region to get them out.Often the women have had to be bought from their last ‘owner’ for amounts varying from 43,000 to as much as $30,000.The special office for Yezidis in the Kurdish government started last year to pay back the cost, given that the families could prove what they claim to have paid.Some $2 million had already been paid, says Bozani, part of which were fixed amounts of $3,000 every escapee would get as a sort of damage payment.But due to the region’s financial crisis the payments stopped that left many families in debt.In turn they had to borrow bits of loan from family members and relatives and exposing themselves to pressure from debtors asking for repayment.Nazi, 45, a woman from Shingal escaped from ISIS on her own and was able last year to buy back two of her daughters’ freedom from the group for amounts of $20,000 and $30,000.As the three have left for Germany where the daughters are part of a program for traumatized women, her cousin Hakim has been following up on the repayment.He reports that the family got back most of the $50,000 from the government and only $9,500 is left to be paid.Bozani says his office has set a limit of maximum of $20,500 per person it can pay. He is adamant that full amounts have been paid based on documents submitted by the smugglers involved.Jamal – not his real name – a taxi driver from Shingal was able to free 14 of his 26 kidnapped family members through his contacts among Arabs living in ISIS territory. He also paid thousands of dollars.He claims he has not been repaid yet and has been told that the recent payments were for people who were freed in September and October. He might get paid in a months’ time, he was told.Andrew Slater of Yazda organisation in Duhok, that is assisting Yezidis victimized by ISIS, has heard of dozens of families who have recently been able to collect the money they paid for their women from Bozani’s office.Yet he points to the backlog of cases still waiting for repayment. “These are only 150 cases that were freed since September. At least 400 to 500 others have been released before and are still waiting for the reimbursement.”He says that most Yezidis involved in the rescue process know the procedure of Bozani’s office, which requires them to report the planned payment beforehand and produce records of the money paid.Yazda has for months been pressuring the government into payments. “We hope this is the start of a new money flow. Much more needs to come. One million a year is not enough.” Slater said.The United Nations has reported that ISIS has earned some $45 million from ransoms paid for Kurdish Yezidi captives by their families, suggesting that the money families pay end up in the coffers of the organisation.But rescuers in the Kurdistan Region stress that the payments went straight to ISIS members, not to the organisation. As ISIS prohibited the sale of sex slaves outside the Caliphate, most of the sellers involved surely did not inform the organisation, and only put the money in their own pockets.