Warning: This story contains disturbing content.
Hayam Mihi was taken from her hometown of Sinjar in northern Iraq by militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS). She was 16 years old and five months pregnant at the time.
Mihi spent nearly two years in IS captivity. She and others held by the militant group were “severely” mistreated and ordered to convert to the group’s faith.
“They abused us, they didn’t let us eat, they beat us, they forced themselves on us. I was pregnant, I suffered a lot,” Mihi told SBS.
In the early morning of August 3, 2014, IS launched its attack in the Sinjar region, where many Yazidis — — calling home. More than 3,000 of them, mostly men and older women, were killed, according to the journal Public Library of Science.
At least 6,800 women and children were captured by IS militants. Some were taken for sexual slavery, human trafficking or to be trained as child soldiers. About 2,800 are still missing.
IS’s control over large parts of Iraq between 2014 and late 2017 has been described by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (OHCHR) as a “ruthless campaign of terror and violence”.
Several bodies, including the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, which has a mandate from the United Nations Human Rights Council, have recognized these acts as genocide.
‘My kidnappers threatened to sell me’
During Mihi’s captivity, she gave birth to her eldest son. After her delivery, she said, her captors gave her an ultimatum.
“An ISIS prince said, ‘Marry me or I’ll take your baby…’ [and] “Sell me to someone else,” she said, using another common acronym for the IS group.
“They took my baby away from me. I didn’t see him for seven days.”
Hayam Mihi is still waiting for justice for what happened to her. Credit: SBS News
Mihi managed to escape from Syria by walking for 12 days until captured by security forces near the Syria-Turkey border.
She said she was subsequently reunited with her family and husband and lived in the Duhok refugee camp until she was granted a humanitarian visa that allowed them to travel to Australia.
“They said Australia accepts IS survivors,” Mihi said.
“I wanted to leave Iraq, but I couldn’t live there anymore because of what happened to us.
“Life there was very difficult and our mental state was bad. We applied and the government accepted us.”
In late 2019, they settled in the New South Wales regional city of Wagga Wagga, but ten years after the horrors she endured, Mihi is still waiting for justice.
“Nothing has yet been done about the crimes committed by ISIS,” she said.
“They destroyed the world. What they did to the Yazidis, they only wanted to break us because of our religion.
“We hope that one day they will be prosecuted for what they did to us.”
Prosecution of IS group foreign fighters
It is estimated that around 30,000 foreign fighters from at least 89 countries have joined the IS group. This number reportedly includes more than 200 Australians.
Many of these countries, including Australia, are signatories to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Signatories to the statute are obliged to investigate and prosecute any citizen suspected of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or aggression.
Susan Hutchinson is the architect of the Prosecute; don’t perpetrate campaign, which advocates for an end to impunity for sexual violence in armed conflict.
She calls on the Australian government to investigate Australians who fought alongside IS and may have committed crimes punishable under the Rome Statute.
“The kind of violence that they (“The brutality that IS experienced was extreme,” Hutchinson told SBS.
“The core of the Rome Statute’s principle of complementarity is that countries like Australia conduct their own investigations and prosecutions.
“At the moment, members of the Australian Defence Force are being held to greater account than people who joined ISIS and fought for terrorist organisations overseas, and that is not okay.”
A German court in 2021 became the first to convict a member of the IS group of genocide.
The suspect, Taha al-Jumailly, was suspected of buying a Yazidi woman and her five-year-old daughter as slaves in 2015 and leaving the girl to die of thirst.
He was also found guilty of crimes against humanity, war crimes and human trafficking, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The kind of violence they (the Yazidis) experienced from ISIS was extremely brutal.
Susan Hutchinson, architect of the Prosecute campaign; don’t perform
According to Daniela Gavshon, the Australian director of Human Rights Watch, if countries do not prosecute foreign IS fighters, there is a risk that “people will not see real accountability.”
“Unfortunately, we have seen in Iraq that when someone is prosecuted, they are only prosecuted for being a member of ISIS, and not for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide,” Gavshon told SBS.
“We haven’t had any such prosecutions in Australia either.”
In 2021, five Yazidi women filed a claim for compensation in the Australian High Court. According to Gavshon, this was the closest an Australian court has ever come to hearing a case for genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity against members of the IS group.
“Five women, who claim they were tortured and enslaved by an Australian man who joined ISIS … have brought a case against the Australian government seeking compensation,” she said.
“Unfortunately, that case was not successful… and so they filed a complaint with the UN Committee against Torture.”
A Justice Department spokesman said the federal government strongly supports the International Criminal Court.
They said Australia has the authority to investigate “serious international crimes” such as war crimes and crimes against humanity, and pointed to an ongoing investigation into .
They said the government strongly condemned the IS group’s violence and terrorism and had “robust frameworks” in place to prevent Australians from joining conflicts overseas and to help manage the return of foreign fighters.
“These provisions also assist in managing the threat posed by individuals who have travelled to a designated area and may return to Australia with skills and intentions acquired through combat or training with terrorist groups,” the spokesperson said.
Family members still missing
Shammo Silo was not in his home village of Kocho in northern Iraq on August 3, 2014.
“I was working as a truck driver,” he told SBS.
“I called my family, my wife, and the people in the village. When I called them, they told me that the Iraqi army had withdrawn and that the Peshmerga had withdrawn.
“I was the only one from my family who was not captured that day, because I was not at home. And everyone else was captured by ISIS.”
Shammo Silo was working as a truck driver when ISIS attacked his village. Credit: SBS News.
His wife and seven children were captured and separated by IS militants.
“At the moment my wife is still missing. They have taken my four daughters,” he said.
“My father is still missing, along with my two sons. We know nothing about them.”
Silo’s daughters have since been released.
His youngest daughter Iman was taken from Kocho at the age of five. Three years later, she was released from IS captivity and found living with a family loyal to the group in Türkiye.
Her father fought tirelessly to find his daughters and secure their release.
“I think about it often and it makes me very upset,” Iman told SBS.
Iman and her father Shammo light candles to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sinjar massacre. Credit: SBS News.
“I lost my mother and siblings.
“If it had never happened, I would probably still be with my family.”
While Iman lives with her father and sister in Wagga Wagga, at least 200,000 Yazidis are still displaced in camps, fearful of returning to Sinjar district, where mass graves are still being uncovered.
“As this day approaches, the third of August, the memories come back… I remember the hour they took our people,” Silo said.
“There has still been no justice; ten years have passed.
“If there had been laws, justice, trials and due process, we would have demanded our rights… we are the ones who have to pay the price; we have lost our families.
“The people who did this to us must answer for their actions.”
Produced in collaboration with journalist Mayada Kordy Khali of SBS Kurdish.
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