The Girl Who Escaped ISIS: This Is My Story by Farida Khalaf & Andrea C. Hoffmann

Author:Farida Khalaf & Andrea C. Hoffmann [Khalaf, Farida]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2016-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

{ Six }

With the “Beasts”

Abu Arram no longer let us out of his sight. Evin and I had hoped that he’d send us back to the dark room where we’d sat for almost ten days. But he didn’t fancy taking any more risks with us. “Girls like you are bad for business; I should never have bought you,” he said, sitting across from us and keeping guard until we were picked up. Our wrists were still shackled. “I’m not playing Mr. Nice Guy anymore,” said the trafficker. “Now the two of you will realize where your stubbornness gets you.”

After some time a car turned into the drive. Libyan ISIS men in military clothing got out. These were soldiers of Commander Omar Zeyad, who was also called the “Emir.” After they’d finished the business formalities with Abu Arram, they pointed their machine guns at us and ordered us into the military vehicle. Although we knew there was no point in putting up a struggle, we did make a last, desperate attempt to run away before they hauled us into the car. Evin and I both agreed that anything was better than being handed over to their master; we’d far rather be shot. But they declined to do us this favor.

The men caught us without much difficulty and shackled us to the backseat with our handcuffs. Then the car raced through the pitch-black night into the desert, leaving Raqqa behind. The air blew back to us through the half-opened windows. The men were listening to an MP3 recording of surahs from the Quran, totally indifferent to our whimpers and moans.

At some point, perhaps around midnight, we reached the Euphrates and the city of Deir ez-Zor, which at the time was controlled by ISIS. We drove to a suburb; I saw “She-Hadad” written on a sign, identifying the place. There must be a local base here. Their chief, the Libyan emir Zeyad, was waiting for us in a dark, two-story building.

The commander of the “Beasts” was talking to a group of subordinates when we were taken into his house. Zeyad was a not particularly tall man, with long hair and a beard streaked with gray. He had coarse facial features, a broad jaw, and wore the typical black ISIS uniform. From the outset his appearance frightened me. When he saw us struggling as we were led to him, a broad smile spread across his face. “That’s enough for today,” he said to his men.

He ordered everyone apart from his deputy, Galib, and a few guards to leave the house and go to bed. For his deputy, a tall, dark-skinned type with short stubble, the invitation to stay was clearly an honor. He thanked his friend and superior profusely. “It’s time we had a little fun now,” Emir Zeyad told him.

I can’t put into words what I felt at that moment. Obviously, I knew what their intentions were. I also knew that there was nothing I could do to prevent it. I saw me and Evin standing shackled before these two men, and yet somehow wasn’t present.

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