Kayla Mueller who was an American human rights activist and a humanitarian worker from Arizona was held captive in Aleppo, Syria. At that time, media outlets revealed that the 36-year-old humanitarian worker was taken captive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) without mentioning her name as per her family’s request.
Mueller went through hell as she was tortured by ISIS, repeatedly sexually abused by Baghdadi himself, having been abducted after travelling from Turkey to Aleppo in Syria in August 2013, while she paid a visit to a hospital.
In February 2015, she was raped several times by her captors due to which, she died at ISIS custody at the age of 26. However, ISIS had claimed that she died in a Jordanian airstrike in Raqqa and her body has not been recovered.
Her father, Carl Mueller, told the Arizona Republic: “What this man did to Kayla – he kidnapped her. She was held in many prisons. She was held in solitary confinement. She was tortured. She was intimidated. She was ultimately raped by al-Baghdadi himself.
“He either killed her or he was complicit in her murder. I’ll let people who read this article make up their own mind how a parent should feel.”
When Kayla’s demise was confirmed, Mueller’s family had released a letter she sent from captivity. “I have been shown in darkness, light,” she wrote, “[and] have learned that even in prison, one can be free. I am grateful. I have come to see that there is good in every situation, sometimes we just have to look for it.”
On Sunday her mother, Marsha Mueller, said: “I still want to know, ‘Where is Kayla?’ and what truly happened to her and what aren’t we being told. Someone knows, and I’m praying with all my heart that someone in this world will bring us those answers.”
Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, the national security adviser identified as Robert O’Brien, said: “We finally brought justice to a man that beheaded the three Americans, two journalists and a humanitarian worker.”
He was actually referring to James Foley and Steven Sotloff, both freelance journalists, and Peter Kassig, a humanitarian worker, who were all killed in the year 2014.
When she was captured, Mueller had been visiting a hospital run by the international aid group Médecins Sans Frontières. O’Brien said she was “a humanitarian, great young American, idealistic, young girl”.
O’Brien said: “One of the things that Gen Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, did was named the operation that took down al-Baghdadi after Kayla Mueller, after what she had suffered. And that was something that people should know.”
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a US military operation in northwest Syria, President Donald Trump confirmed the news. During a press conference on Sunday, Trump added Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been “under surveillance for a couple of weeks”.
As per the US president, the ISIL chief got killed after running into a tunnel in the village of Barisha where he had detonated an explosive vest, killing himself and three of his children.
The US military operation which led to the death of the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named after Kayla Mueller, the White House national security adviser added.
Mueller had supported all the good causes that supported humanitarian aid, human rights, youth mentorship, and environmental activism. Her involvement in human rights activism and humanitarian aid also included working in India with Tibetan refugees.
Her work in the Middle East- volunteering for the pro-Palestinian activist group the International Solidarity Movement and also steering African refugees in Israel with the African Refugees Development Center.
Other humanitarian and activist causes Mueller was involved in at home and foreign countries were Vrindavan Food For Life, which provides free food, education, and medical care for the less unfortunate ones.