Cowan was 14 when she was kidnapped by ISIS in Sinjar, Iraq. A Yazidi, an ancient Kurdish-speaking ethnic and religious group, she was held captive for several days along with her family before being sold. That’s when the young woman’s nightmare began. She was forced to live as a sex slave, and says she was raped and beaten for two years. Now, at 24, finally free and back home with her remaining family, Cowan wants justice for the horrors she and so many others endured.
The first man who bought Kovan was twice his age. The girl had not yet started menstruating. She tried to run away, but was grabbed and dragged by her hair. “He said he would kill me and bury me in the backyard if I did not do what he wanted. I was raped every day for two years,” he said. Sky News.
The young woman has two children – a four-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy – born as a result of rapes committed by two members of the organization.
During her enslavement, she also witnessed the rape of a 10-year-old child.
In Cowan’s view, the women were equally bad. “They knew what their husbands were doing. They dressed us and painted us so that we could be raped by their husbands,” she said.
After her release, Kovan was taken to a Yazidi shelter, where they were able to find surviving members of her family. Kovan’s two sisters and his older brother had already been released, but his parents and younger sister, who was only eight when she was captured, were still missing. In search of her family, the young woman left her children in the care of the Kurdish authorities. Making this decision was devastating for Kovan: “Of course I love them.”
Soon after, Kovan was finally reunited with the rest of his extended family. But none of these family members returned to the Sinjar region. They are divided into tents scattered across Iraq, between Dohuk and Erbil. Many cemeteries in his home region of Sinjar contain rows of empty graves, and family members still do not know the fate of their loved ones.
ISIS considers the Yazidis a “godless” group and has begun systematically killing, torturing and raping them. Only justice will bring peace to Kovan.
Author: Morning mail
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.