HELL, AND HOPE FINAL SCRIPT – AMISH SRIVASTAVA/MOLLY MCKITTERICK
Total Pages – 17 Transcribed, as it appears on English Film
BLACK INC - NARRATION
BLUE INC – INTERVIEWS BITES
RED INC – GRAFIX/CHYRONS/TEXT
ON BLACK
Special Thanks to
State of Baden Württemberg
Germany
CHYRON
Salwa Khalaf
Yazidi Survivor
INTERVIEW BITE
If I stayed in Iraq, I might have committed suicide.
On August 2014, Islamic State militants
Kidnapped thousands of Yazidi girls in Iraq.
Girls risked their lives
to escape Islamic State captivity.
Few succeeded.
VOA Presents.
Hell and Hope
NARRATION
This is Stuttgart, an industrial city in southwest Germany. A manufacturing hub, the city is home to companies that made Germany famous for its engineering excellence. People say, ‘It’s the German way of living and thinking’. We are here today to see how Germany has put that expertise into practice, not in technology, but in changing lives, of a few.
Dr. Michael Blume, Director
Minorities Division, State Dept., Baden-Wurttenberg, Germany
We took only those that couldn’t be helped there. If they were in good condition or if their family structure was intact then of course we said that stay there. We only took the most severe cases.
Stuttgart, Germany
It’s a chilly morning and at the metro station, we are waiting for Lamiya. Lamiya Bashar.
Lamiya is a Yezidi girl whose life changed in August, 2014, the day Islamic State militants reached Kocho Village in the province of Sinjar. Lamiya had just finished middle school when Islamic State militants threatened to kill everyone unless they converted to Islam. Islamic State was targeting Yezidis in an effort to purge Iraq of all non-Islamic influences. Yezidis are a Kurdish speaking religious minority with their own faith.
We already know of Lamiya. She is one of a group of Kocho girls who were taken captive by Islamic State.
In August 2017 we produced a short feature on the missing girls. With the help of watercolor paintings, our small story was named “The Last Dance of Kocho…. And its Missing Girls”
After seeing the story Yezidi activist and humanitarian Mirza Dinnayi, called us to say that he knew where the girls were – and he said - Lamiya was here in Germany.
Dinnayi is something of a hero in these parts, we will come back to him, but now... “Lamiya’s here.”
My excitement at finding Lamiya in person, is so intense, that I cannot focus my camera when Lamiya first appears with her brother Waad and friends from Sinjar.
She is tiny, beautiful and mature for her age. Life has tested her more than many of her peers.
Lamiya just had face surgery. She is ready to talk to us but only after a week of rest.
We use the time to find other missing girls in Southwest Germany. Mirza Dinnayi started a program called “Air Bridge Iraq,” a humanitarian organization to bring Iraqi children and terror victims to Germany. With his help, the home ministry of the German state of Baden Wurttemberg brought more than 1100 survivors to Germany in the hope of giving them a better life. Some of the IS girls from Kocho came to Germany through this program.
During our 9-day journey, we meet many girls and families. Each story sounds more horrific than the one before.
Salwa Khalaf
Yazidi Survivor
I wasn't sold at first.
Salwa Khalaf was just 16 when she was captured by IS militants, also known as Daish. She remembers exactly.
Salwa Khalaf
Yazidi Survivor
I did not believe what happened. On August 3rd, I was asleep until 8:00 AM, and when I woke up, I had no idea. Daish militants came around 3:00 AM. It was a hot summer and many people slept on the rooftop of their houses. My uncle called my father around 3:00 AM and told him that there was fighting going on. In the beginning the fight was not in Sinjar. The fight started in villages around Sinjar. My parents did not tell us until 8 AM. I was awakened by a phone call from my cousin asking “what are you doing?” We still had no idea what was going on. I got out of bed and looked at the street. Our house was two stories high. Below, people were running in different directions. I did not understand anything. I was seeing a different world. It wasn't normal life.
Only Salwa can define what is ‘normal’ for her now. Salwa now lives in Frieberg, a beautiful city in southwest Germany. Seeing her confidence in her new life, one might think she has left the past behind but when she talks about it, it is still so fresh…
Salwa Khalaf
Yazidi Survivor
My father and I did not want to leave. We kept saying wherever we go we will get captured there was nowhere to go. We stayed home until around 10 or 11 at night. Then we left towards the mountain. But the Peshmerga would not allow us to leave. That is why a lot of people were captured. I was one of them. I was captured because they were closing the roads asking where we were going. We were forced to take a longer road to get to the mountain. We reached the zig zag road. At first, there was lot of traffic. A car was broken down. It wasn’t really. A Sunni neighbor pretended that his car was broken so other cars could not pass. We were stopped there. Two or three Daish militants came, carrying guns. They ordered us out of the car.
The same day IS militants took Salwa to Mosul. (Bus animation) About 500 girls were gathered in a big hall. After 15 days she finally understood what was going on. IS militants were coming to buy girls and take them.
Almost at the same time Salina Haji Bashar was being captured with other girls in the small village of Kocho. Salina knew everyone, who went to Kocho’s school…
SALINA HAJI BASHAR
Yazidi Survivor
I saw my father, my brothers, my cousins from my father’s side and my cousins from my mother’s side.
Salina and other girls were watching from the windows. They saw IS militants take several car loads of men to the pool.
Daish militants were standing around the pool with guns. Then we heard the shooting and we screamed, “They are killing the men.”
Within moments, hundreds of brothers, fathers, uncles, husbands and sons were gone.
Khuder Hassan was one of them. Down below, Khuder could see everything. One IS militant was filming in the front with a camera and the others were around.
Khuder Khuder Hassan Ahmad
Yazidi Survivor
One militant at the back shouted Allah Ho Akbar three times. They repeated it after him, and he ordered them to shoot. I jumped and lay vertically in front of the other men. When they got shot, they fell down over my body. At the beginning, I did not get hit by a shot. At first, I did not get hit. After a while, the man who ordered the shooting came to shoot those who were still alive, but he missed me again. As they were leaving, one of them saw me moving. He pointed at me and told the shooter, “The one with the gray shirt is still alive.” I didn’t know I had moved. He turned and shot me. He was about 5-6 meters away. The bullet hit my shoulder. It penetrated the flesh of my shoulder but did not hit bone. I was careful not to move after that. They thought I died. They did not come back to me.
While Khuder was still figuring out that he was alive and wondering how to escape, the girls at the nearby school were terrified – not knowing what was going to happen to them. IS militants picked all the girls who did not have children and took them to a park.
SALINA HAJI BASHAR
Yazidi Survivor
More than 100 girls were taken to the park. We stayed there until 10:00 PM. They brought 2 big buses, loaded us in and took us to Mosul in a 3 level house. Other Yezidi girls were in the house. We asked them, “what's happening?” They said, “Everyday their sheikh or Amir comes to sell or give us to someone.”
Today is the sex slave market day.
Salwa was captured with a different group from Salina. Each girl had her own fate.
Salwa Khalaf
Yazidi Survivor
Around 30 of us were taken to Baaj. Out of 500 girls, 100 girls were left. The rest were all sold. We were there for one day and then the militants came to buy us. One of the girls with us was named Jilan Barjas. She was from Tel Azer. She was terrified. She committed suicide by slitting her wrists. Jilan was sitting right in front of me. Before she killed herself, I told my friend that Jilan is not normal. My friends said, “ We all are not normal. We are all numb in this situation.”
Salwa learned that Jilan’s sisters had an idea that she could commit suicide, but they didn’t stop her.
I tried to kill myself several times, but suicide is not a solution. If her sisters told me that Jilan was going to the bathroom to commit suicide, I would’ve stopped her. That was one of the hardest moments when Jilan killed herself. After Jilan, there were other girls, who thought about killing themselves. We collapsed. We got tired. For 15 days we lived in the nightmare. there was a fear in our hearts when our turn would come. They came from time to time to buy some of the girls. Every time they came, we knew that some of our sisters or friends would be taken. We were all waiting for our turn. There were times when we wished that they would come and take all of us, so we could escape from this situation. We did not want to see more of this. We held each other's hands, but they separate our hands by hitting us with wood sticks and pulling our hair. After Jilan, others attempted to commit suicide.
This is another Jilan. She is 16 now, so she was a child when she was captured 4 years back. Jilan speaks out for probably the first time – and her story is horrific. But for that, we will have to reach Tubingen, a university town in south of Germany.
By this time Lamiya is also ready to talk. Lamiya is Salina’s sister. They live in the same complex. While Salina was talking to Dakhil, I have a chance to take visit Lamiya’s room and see her picture gallery. I do not speak Kurdish. But Lamiya makes things clear.
Lamiya- This is father
Amish-ok
Lamiya- Brother
Amish- Who is she?
Lamiya- Katrin
Lamiya- This one Almas
Amish- So where is Katrin?
Lamiya- Here
Amish- Ok, she is in Germany now?
Lamiya-No, This is in
Boomb, Boomb …
Amish- Oh bombed? She died?
Lamiya- Yes and Almas
Amish- Oh, Almas.
Lamiya- Yes
Amish- She was with you. Right?
Lamiya- Yes
Lamiya- Father
Lamiya- Mother
Amish- Where is your mother here?
Lamiya- No
Amish- Where is she?
Amish- Kidnapped?
Lamiya- Yes
Amish- Not yet back?
Lamiya- Yes.. No
Lamiya- Sister Salina
Lamiya- Waad
Lamiya- This is my friend.
Lamiya- And this is ich.
Amish- You?
Lamiya- Yes(Smiles)
Lamiya- And this is she.
Amish- Who? You?
Lamiya- Yes
Lamiya- This is Katrin.
Lamiya- And this is Almas.
Lamiya- And this is my house.
Amish- In Kocho?
Lamiya- Yes
Most of the Lamiya’s friends are either dead, or are still missing.
And this is me..
Meanwhile, Salina is telling my colleague Dakhil Shammo how she tried to stop the militants from taking Lamiya away from her.
Salina Haji Bashar
Yazidi Survivor
They picked 57 of us, including my sisters Lamiya, Avin and Navin, along with my cousin and other villagers. Early that morning, they put us into a bus and drove us from Mosul to Syria. They sold us in Raqqa. The man chose Lamiya refused to take me. He said, “I am not going to take you.” They left me there. I cried and ran after her. But it did not help. They took her. Lamiya was doing the same. Saying, “I am not leaving without sister,” but they dragged her by hair closed the door.
Salina stayed at the same place for 2 days. One evening at 8:00 pm, when she was alone at home she decided to run away.
I walk around 30 minutes from the house and entered another house that had a surveillance camera at the door. They saw me and knew which alley I took. They followed me and knocked the door. The family said, “Either we hand you to them, or they will harm us.” They took me to another house and beat me. The same man, Abu Ahmad kept me. I stayed there for three days. Another girl from my village, Narivan was in the house. She is still in Daish captivity. Four days later when the guard and his family were sleeping, She and I ran away again. They ran behind us holding guns and screaming. We did not stop. We threw off our shoes and scarves. We wore black. We ran as fast as we could until we reached a bridge. They shot guns over our heads, but we did not stop, and we jumped from the bridge. We crossed the river. Our feet, hands and faces were injured, brocken and bloody. But we reached the other side.
IS militants were watching them. They were captured again and put in jail for nine days in Qaim.
A man from Gulf, a Saudi, came to the jail and abused my friend harshly. He hit her, kicked her and dragged her to a room. He raped her. He took her to the bath and took off her clothes. He tied her hands and legs and hit her with a cable wire. She was trying to prevent him but could not stop him. He tied her hands and raped her again. I helped her put her clothes back on.
Lamiya was captured in the same school at Kocho. She said one militant told her that IS militants had killed all the men of the village and from now onwards, the girls were sabaya - sex slaves in English - and they would be sold to other men in Syria. The bus journey to Mosul gave them a hint of what was coming…
Lamyaa Haji Bashar
Yazidi Survivor
Inside the buses, Daish were harassing us by touching our hair and bodies all the way between Sinjar and Mosul. It was obvious what they wanted. They forced us to look up and they took photos of us. There were two buses and in each one they were saying they would take the pretty ones for themselves like picking sheep.
Dakhil Question - What were the ages of the group that was moved to Syria?
Lamiya - From 9-30 years. Most were young girls. They took us from Mosul, They told us that some Daish members were coming to see us and select from the new group. They were Daish from Saudi Arabia and Algeria. A girl who was a year younger than me was taken that day by a Saudi man.
After two days, in the evening, they asked us to convert to Islam. I told them that we would convert on the condition that they did not rape us.
Dakhil Question - What was the hardest tragedies that you faced from the day you were captured until now?
Lamiya: Of course, what happened to my face was huge. But day after day, my face is getting better. This not a big difficult anymore. However, now I know that my parents are not coming back. This is the hardest part of my life. Especially my mother. I had never been separated from her even for a minute.
Dakhil Question - When was the last time you saw your mother?
Lamiya: DAISH militants took me to a place in Sulakh to my mother. As soon as they brought my mother, I ran to her and we sat together. I held her hand. We were sitting in a room next to each other. DAISH militants entered the room and said they would take me away. They pulled me. My mother begged them to leave me, saying I was too young. I moved closer to my mother. Two DAISH militants came and gripped my mother. Another pulled me by hair. They took my mother out and locked the door. They did not allow my mother to come out. It was the last time, I never saw her again.
Lamiya tried to escape four times and each time they got her, they sold her. One day she cut her veins with a piece of broken window.…
Lamyaa Haji Bashar
Yazidi Survivor
When I woke up, I was with a Moroccan physician. He was the one who bound up my injury.
The Saudi man took my sister and me only for two days. We stayed with him only two days. The Saudi man took my sister and me only for two days. He raped us, kicked us, returned us back, and took another girl. I asked them why do you keep selling us. They said that we were Sabaya (sex slaves) and was Halal (fine) for them to take us. There were times a girl would be sold five times. Women who had 4-5 children were taken and each of their children was given to a Daish militants. Boys were taken to camps for training.
Lamiya’s little brother Waad, stays glued to his sister while we interview her and is eager to watch our filming. At the age of 7, Waad was captured too and sent to a training camp.
Waa’d Haji Bashar
Yazidi Survivor
They were dirty, dusty and carrying weapons. Their beards were dirty.
DAISH militants were bad. When someone did not obey them, they beat him. They separated children from their mothers
They trained us to use guns and they told us "You will kill your parents."
Question : What type of weapons?
They were GC, pistols, DShK (Dushka) and BKC.
Yes, I learned how to shoot. They taught me how to pull the handle of the rifle and use the finger to shoot.
Waad is not alone there, we are told, there is a wooden structure at Rottum where a few boys live who returned from IS training camps… While we wait for the boys to come back from school, we record the blank faces of the kids who pass, saying everything about the impact of their experiences on their lives.
And then we meet the first smiling face – Zina Abbas. But there is a reason why she is smiling. One of her sisters, Hina, was rescued from IS captivity just two days back.
Zina Abas
Yazidi Survivor
Two of my sisters - Base and Wadha - are still captured by DAISH. I wish that all Yezidi would be free from captivity. I am very happy for my sister’s freedom.
That’s it.
As soon as boys return, we sit down with Raghib.
Raghib Elias Ahmad
Yazidi Survivor
We would wake up at 4 a.m. everyday, pray, read Quran, and then go back to sleep, until 8 am.
IS militants had formed an army of kids known as ‘Ashbal Al- Khilafa’ also known as ‘Cubs of the Caliphate’.
After eating, we trained on rifles until 6 p.m. Two Yazidis and two Muslim boys were assigned to guard the camp. They trained us to open the rifles and put them together again. They were teaching us how to fight and in case we ran out of ammunition, they taught us how to blow up an explosive belt. They told us when you explode it, you will become a martyr and go to the heaven.
Raghib says that after his release from captivity, he does not want to think about Islamic state or what happened to him. He wants to forget the Quran.
When we meet Baazi, a few hours later outside her college, she looks very confident. We already had spoken to her about our last film. Now, we want to see her school… And we want to hear about an American IS militant that Baazi had mentioned to us.
Badeeah (Baazi) Hassan Ahmed
Yazidi Survivor
His name was Abu Abdullah al-Ameriki. One evening he came to me, asked me my age again and if my nephew-- I was pretending that he was my son was really my son. I asked him what are you going to do to us? He said “We brought you here to sell you. I will sell you to my friends here in Aleppo.”
They called us by names in the evening. They would tell the girls to be prepared. Someone would come in the morning and take them. They took all of them but left Nada, my nephew and me. I was telling them that my nephew was my son. I said, “I am married, and he is my son.”
5.35
After 4-5 days, his guard came and told me that Abu Abdullah al-Ameriki wanted to see me. They were calling him the Sheikh.
Badeeah (Baazi) Hassan Ahmed
Yazidi Survivor
He said that he was not married. He would come back with guests. We cooked for him, did laundry and served his guests with tea and other things.
One day Abu Abdullah al-Ameriki, Baazi and her nephew were alone in the house. Baazi saw that Abdullah Ameriki was talking to his family via Skype .
Baazi asked him why. Abu Abdullah al-Ameriki told her that in the U.S. he was a teacher. But he had come to Syria for a visit and found friends. They convinced him that Islam was the right religion.
I asked him why his wife did not question him about what he was doing, why had he came there and why he did not go back. He told me not to ask these questions anymore.
There was a big hall in the house with a big table in the middle of it. He would put war maps on it. One evening, I watched him from a window. He was drawing and giving Daish militants directions where to go and what to do.
After a few days, Abdullah Ameriki called Baazi to his room and told her that he was going to marry her.
I cried and refused. I told him I had a son, and I was married, and this should not happen. he told me all the girls would get married, except for the pregnant ones. “ There is no use of them,” he said.
Around 11:00 p.m., he called me and pushed me into the shower and forced me to take a shower. Then he took me to his room. I told him that I was pregnant after he said that there is no use in marrying a pregnant women. He said, “Tomorrow I will take you to a doctor.” After a few days, he told me that I lied. He took me to his room by force and raped me.
Dakhil: Remembering these moments made you uncomfortable?
No, for me, recalling and telling my story that makes me feel better. When I do not tell, it stays inside me, and I always think about it, but when I talk about it, I feel I am taking it out. I feel it is better for me.
One day, Baazi said, when Abu Abdullah al-Ameriki was not at the home, she and her nephew went out after telling a guard they needed medicine for the boy.
Badeeah (Baazi) Hassan Ahmed
Yazidi Survivor
We went to Aleppo, to the center of the city and knocked on a door. Someone opened the door. It was Daish Headquarter. When we saw that a Daish militant opened the door, I told them in Arabic that we are looking for someone who could help a pregnant woman. They said, “No, there is no such woman here.”
We knocked on another door. A woman opened the door. she was around 30. We begged her for help. She said, “I will call my husband to see how we can help you and get you out from here.” Her husband came with Abu Abdullah Al Amriki who took us back. He asked, “Why did you escape?” He beat us as much as he could and he took my nephew for a week. After that, whenever he came home, I kissed his feet and begged him to give my nephew back. He always said that he was not with him, but after a week he returned him.
One evening, he came and asked if we needed anything because he was going to fight a war in Kobani. Later, we broke the door with a hammer and waited until morning when we went out. We dressed in black and went to a place that had a pay telephone. We called one of my relatives and let other people know where we were.A man came, took us to his home and freed us.
Even after four years, Baazi still goes to see a psychologist every week.
Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan
Psychologist and Author
The truma is not over, If we see the psychiatry diagnosis, its called post trumatic stress disorder, which means past is over but in the case of Yazidis we have a mixture of historical trauma, collective truma and still the truma exist because the future for Yazidis in Iraq is not clear. Weather they survive or not survive.
Seeing Baazi studying at school is like a ray of hope. Baazi thinks, her dreams still may come true…
Baazi’s German Professor Mark Geckeler says that Yazidi immigrants send a message about the ongoing debate over immigration in the country.
Prof. Markus Geckeler
Geschwister-Scholl-Schule, Tubingen, Germany
For Germany, it is a real win to have people like them in our country. Big gain for us.
A new radical group was created called IFT and there are lot of people who now are against foreigners and there is a discussion about that. And I also only can say people like these three people are kind of publicity and advertisement for foreigners that come to Germany and want to integrate and want to do the best for everybody.
Baazi’s nephew, her brother’s son, whom she pretended to be her own son has grown up now. His name is Evin. Baazi’s four brothers along with Evin’s father were killed by IS militants, on the day Baazi was kidnapped. And Baazi’s mother before being taken away, handed Evin over to Baazi. Still today, no one knows where Baazi’s mother is.
Salwa Khalaf strongly believes that if the girls were more educated, and had more rights then, this all wouldn’t have happened to them…
Salwa khalaf
Yazidi Survivor
We grew up in a society where not even 20% attended school. We did not see the world and did not understand life to the point that we thought that if we put a scarf around our necks then we would die. We did not understand that it was not easy to commit suicide. We were uneducated. Honestly, I don't understand people’s reaction when I tell them that I am uneducated. They don’t understand how big a deal it is when someone says that.
We didn’t choose to be uneducated. We wanted to see the world, go to school and understand life. We wanted a future too, but all of this happened to us because we were women and not men. If women had rights where we grew up, half of this wouldn’t happened. Simply, many women would tell their husbands to run away, but the men would say, “No we men don’t run away.” In Iraq, I doubt there were more than 100 women that knew how to drive a car. In my family, women don’t know how to drive. I doubt in all of Sinjar even 4 women knew how to drive. If they had known how to drive, they would’ve escaped and survived. The men could’ve stayed behind since they believed that men shouldn’t run, and they should fight. They should have fought and not let us face what we faced.
Salwa was in captivity for 8 months. Towards the end, she was kept with an Iraqi family from Baaj. Then they held her in Mosul for 4 months.
I sent a message to my father, but he did not respond. For four months he believed that I was dead because Daish told my friends that Salwa has committed suicide. I texted my cousin and asked if he could tell my father that I was alive since my father was not answering. And then my father responded. One day I was able to get away for a bit in a taxi. I spoke to my father and told him about my location in Mosul. I said, I was able to escape. I could run on my own but I didn’t know where to go because Daish militants were everywhere. My father had a friend in Mosul who helped me. He gave me his address. I went to the family. I stayed with them for a week until I was able to escape.
You know, the hardest part about all of this is when a man does something bad like this, it’s normal, but when a woman allows and encourages her husband to do such things, it is disgusting. I just can’t describe it. I find it very evil. What we saw was that the women encouraged their husbands. This is why I always say that women should see the world and get an education. They controlled woman's minds. What was Daish telling their wives? They would tell that women don’t go to heaven. They would tell them that a woman is incomplete, therefore, Women do not go to heaven. Only men go to heaven, therefore in this life wives must please their husbands. And when they go to heaven, they can ask their wives to join them. Imagine someone goes to a different country and does paperwork for his wife. That's what they believe. After a Daish kills Yezidis because they are infidel, he will go to heaven and if he is satisfied with his wife, he will say that I want my wife too. Therefore, in life, when a man asks for anything, the wife will obey. If men crush their heads, the wives will accept it because they want to go to heaven in the other world.
They were reading the Quran 24 hours a day, and they would memorize it. They would always recite it for any excuse to do something. During that time, I hated Islam. They would threaten to kill me. Many times, they threatened to kill me. I would grab their guns and put them to my head because I was used to it. They would order us to convert to Islam. I would ask them to give me a good reason why I should be Muslim. I would say, I have been here for 4-5 months, and I have not seen one good thing in your religion. Even if I tell you 300 times that I am Muslim, in my heart, I am not because, if this is Islam, I don't want it. All I see is killing and rape and taking children from their mothers. I did not see any good thing in Islam. At that time, if anyone asked me about Islam, I would say it is the dirtiest thing in the world. But after I survived and left Iraq and came here, I realized that it is not like that.
if I stayed in Iraq, I might have committed suicide.
Honestly, during the past four years, this (German) program has helped Yezidis in general and survivors specifically. I never dreamt about leaving Iraq before these events. My life there was very simple. All I did was go to school and go home and stay until next day. We would watch movies and think that people's lives in movies were not real. We thought it was imagination. We were comfortable. Maybe because of the way we were raised. We had a simple life, and our dreams were very small. Yes, I was a kid at the time, but those older than me had small dreams as well. In Iraq, every girl’s biggest dream is to find a good man to marry.
On weekdays, Salwa changes trains to go to her school. And on weekends she works.
Salwa Khalaf
Yazidi Survivor
I work at an Indian restaurant. My job is being a waitress. I take care of the customers. Bring their food. For me it is a good job. I get to meet and work with people.
When Lamiya tells us about her escape, it sounds like a perfect plan that went wrong. She started from her last owner’s house, the doctor in Hawija. The plan was to run away in the dark…
Lamiya Haji Bshar
Yazidi Survivor
At 7 p.m. the smugglers asked us to be in a specific location where they were waiting for us. We dressed in the black clothes of Daish militants. Even Almas dressed in a Hijab and Khimar. It was raining heavily, and earth was muddy. A person could hardly walk. We would stop from time to time. We walked until 4 A.M. There were three smugglers. One of them walked ahead of us and the others followed. The road between Kirkuk and Hawija was heavily planted with landmines. They asked us to line up. We walked one after another and put our steps on the same place as theirs. The three smugglers walked ahead of us. Almas was holding my right hand. The other family was ahead of us. It was raining, muddy and dark. I think Katerin did not put her feet on the smuggler's step. She stepped on a landmine and it exploded. When it exploded I saw a green light. Then I became blind, and I did not see anything. I screamed because my eyes and face burned intensely. I screamed and called Katerin and Almas. Katerin responded one time. It wasn’t clear.Then I didn’t hear anything from them.I heard the smugglers talking. I was awake, but I lost my vision and my face burned. The smuggler ordered me to stop screaming because maybe Daish militants would hear. The smuggler asked the family to take me with them but they said, “We are scared that Peshmerga may arrest.” The smuggler asked the family to take me with them to Kurdistan. The family said, “ We cannot take her because she will slow us down, and Daish militants may show up.” The smugglers told the family, “You cannot leave without taking her to a safe place. She is alive.” The man and his son took my hands until we reached Kirkuk.
In October 2016, the European Parliament awarded Lamiya Bashar, along with Nadia Murad, the prestigious Sakharaov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Lamiya’s life has never been the same again. I now understand what she was trying to tell me about Katerine and Almas while showing her picture gallery…
Just 12 when she was kidnapped, Jilan and her friend were taken to a big house. Then two men came to them…
Jilan Ismail
Yazidi Survivor
One of them took me to the second level. My friend stayed in the first level. We asked them, “What do you want from us?” They said, “We are teaching you Islam.” We had no choice. Around 11 P.M., they came and told us, “We have to marry you, so you become Muslim.” We screamed and cried, but that was hopeless. They kicked us severely. I was 12. I did not know what he was doing. He kicked me severely, and then he did what he wanted to do. He was over 60 years old. I could not do anything.
Dakhil: Did you tell your friend what happened to you and learn if it happened to her too?
Jilan: Yes, we talked. The exact same thing happened to her.
I stayed with my friend until noon in that house. The men came and threw each of us into a different car. The sheikh took me to his family for about a week. Whenever he wanted, he came and did what he wanted to do with me in front of his family.
Dakhil - Did his family know that he was raping you?
Jilan - Yes. They all knew.
Dakhil - Did they approve of what he was doing?
Jilan - Yes. They were OK with that because they said nothing.
Dakhil - That did not make his wife angry?
Jilan - No. That did not make her angry. She was telling me that you are like my daughter but she never helped me.
In front of her eyes, he was raping me 3 or more times a week and she did not tell him anything.
Dakhil - If you see him, would you recognize him?
Jilan - Yes.
Dakhil - Do you want to see him?
Jilan - No.
Dakhil - Even his photo?
Jilan - No.
Jilan - But if I see him, I would recognize him.
Dakhil - After coming here, do you think sometimes about what happened to you?
Jilan - Yes. Many times. There are many nights when I could not sleep. The Sheikh appears in my dreams. I tried hard. Seen doctors, but it doesn't help.
When you talk about what happened to you, does that make you better or worse?
Jilan - It makes me worse.
Dakhil - That means you will not be able to sleep tonight?
Jilan - I don't know.
Dakhil - I hope, this will not take away your sleep?
Jilan - Its normal.
Already, I will never forget what happened to me as long as I am alive.
Dakhil - If there is a court where Sheikh A is summoned. Are you ready to testify and say that this was the man who raped me?
Jilan - Yes, I am ready. Now if there is a court, I will say, “This is the man who raped me and ask for the punishment.”
What he took from me, I am sure I will not get it back.
Dakhil - What punishment do you want?
Jilan - I don't know
Baazi is engaged and planning her wedding in the coming months.
Her book “A Cave in The Cloud” will be published in April.
She is happy to join a nursing college in Tubingen.
That’s what she wanted to become…
A Nurse
Salwa has decided to help orphan children.
She visited Yazidi refugee camps in Kurdistan to help them.
Like many, Salina prefers to spend time at home.
She says, a person has to find her way,
Life will not stop.
Jilan will soon pass high school.
She stopped going to the psychologist,
But continues to pray for her friend.
Lamiya spoke at a few human rights conferences about trafficking and genocide.
And, her face is getting better every day.
Even after 4 years, thousands of girls are still missing…
Credits
Written and Directed by
Amish Srivastava
Narrated by
Amish Srivastava
Correspondent and Coordinator
Dakhil Shammo Elias
Cinematography
Amish Srivastava
Video Editing
Amish Srivastava
Color Grading
Amish Srivastava
Sketch Artist and Painter
Lukman Ahmad
Script Supervisor
Molly McKitterick
Script Consultant
Patricia Bodnar
(End)
WORLDWIDE AWARDS, NOMINATIONS AND SCREENINGS
Commended Prize - Asia Pacific Broadcasters Union (ABU Awards, Tokyo) (Largest broadcaster’s union in the World)
Best Film – Terrorism. Crime and Violence – Woodpecker International Film Festival
Finalist - Venice TV Awards – Celebrating the Masterpieces of the Television, Venice, Italy
Official Selection - Peloponnisos International Documentary Festival, Kalamata, Greece
Official Selection - Rome Independent Prisma Awards, Italy
Winner, Best Documentary Feature - Crown Wood International Film Festival, Calcutta
Winner Best Debut Filmmaker - Crown Wood International Film Festival
Winner, Best Film on women - Crown Wood International Film Festival
Outstanding Achievement. Debut Filmmaker - Calcutta International Cult Film Festival
Outstanding Achievement. Best Documentary - Calcutta International Cult Film Festival
Finalist - Beyond Earth Film Festival, India
Semi Finalist and official Selection - Social World Film Festival, Italy
Finalist - Eurasia International Film Festival
Winner - 6th season of L’Age d’Or International Arthouse Film Festival (LIAFF)
Official Selection – Alwar International Film Festival, India
