This story is about a girl who faced the atrocities of Baghdadi’s terrorists and managed to escape from the clutches of ISIS in one way or another. The girl’s name is Lamiya Haji Bashar. According to Bashar, she spent nearly 20 months in ISIS captivity.
Lamiya recounts that she endured every terrible situation during her captivity under ISIS. She was subjected to sexual abuse and torture. Even a minor mistake would result in punishment. In this context, she says, “To those who believe in the ideology of ISIS, I want to say that they should not support ISIS because they are not doing anything good. They are simply criminals.”
The pain she endured cannot be adequately expressed in writing or spoken words. The suffering was so intense that it could melt even a stone-hearted person. ISIS turned Lamiya’s life into a painful prison.
Before her escape, Lamiya attempted to flee four times. One explosion occurred in a booby-trapped tunnel, resulting in the deaths of her companions, 8-year-old Almas and 20-year-old Catherine. The explosion blinded Lamiya’s right eye, and her face was disfigured by melted skin. She was saved by a terrorist and, since then, considers herself fortunate. Lamiya says, “I was successful in the end. I thank God that I managed to stay away from those infidels. Even if I had lost both my eyes, it would have been worth it because I survived them.”
Lamiya is currently in India, where she is being remembered because she was abducted by ISIS near the northern Iraq region in 2014. She spent nearly 20 months in ISIS captivity, where she was turned into a sexual slave. She was burned with acid, and her face and body bore so many wounds that no one could recognise her. However, today, Lamiya is free. She is happy to hear that ISIS is weakening.
Lamiya has been honoured with the Sakharov Prize, and wherever she goes, her story is heard because it is a tale of fighting against death. Her life, her journey, and her mission revolve around defeating the ideology of ISIS and freeing girls trapped under their control. Such a story of struggle has never been witnessed before.
