Precis

It's almost a decade since ISIS militants swept through Iraq and Syria but the legacy of their brutal caliphate remains.

While many Iraqis are reclaiming their lives in a period of relative calm, the targets of ISIS’s genocide, the Yazidis, are not at peace.

The world was transfixed when this religious minority fled to the mountains of Sinjar.

Rescue efforts managed to airlift some to safety and others who escaped on foot and were eventually settled in countries like Australia.

But many were trapped and killed, and huge numbers of women and girls were taken as slaves.

This week Foreign Correspondent goes in search of what happened to them.

Reporter Stephanie March travels to northern Iraq and uncovers incredible stories of survival and hears brave accounts from those who have rescued hundreds of Yazidi women.

She also meets the women trafficked by ISIS who allege they were held captive by an Australian.

Episode teaser, into

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00:10

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: This is Sinjar in northern Iraq. The world watched in horror

00:13

when Islamic State swept through here in 2014, on a campaign of genocide.

00:19

Their target -- members of the ancient religious minority, the Yazidis.

00:25

NATIA NAVROUZOV: People on the north had a bit more time to escape, so a lot of them started to flee to Sinjar mountain

00:32

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Their fate, to risk dying of dehydration on the mountain or go down and be killed, was captured in these grainy pictures.

00:39

When the Yazidis fled up this mountain, literally running for their lives,

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Super:
Stephanie March
REPORTING

as they got more and more exhausted they started dumping their possessions, and all the way up this road you can still see clothing and shoes scattered by the side of the road.

00:58

NATIA NAVROUZOV: For the ones who were not so fortunate, ISIS basically carried out crimes based on age and gender.

01:10

The women and children were enslaved taking into captivity sites where they were later sold, and men above the age of around 12 were executed.

01:18

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Nine years on we're here to find out what's happened to the Yazidis.

01:30

NATIA NAVROUZOV: We still have, up until today, over 2,600 Yazidi missing.

01:37

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Even today, women and children are still being rescued and returned.

01:42

ABDULLAH: I would pretend I was interested in buying her as a slave. So far I have been able to rescue 399 people from ISIS captivity.

01:19

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Across the border in Syria, in prisons and camps, are tens of thousands of fighters and families who were living in the Islamic State caliphate before it collapsed. Some, including Australians, were involved in crimes against Yazidis. And survivors want justice.

01:57

"Would you be prepared to testify against them?"

02:16

SARAB: Yes I will. Each state has its own laws and punishments, but they should not forget what happened to the Yazidis.

02:18

Aerial over Sinjar. Title:
SURVIVING ISIS

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02:30

Night attack. Super:
BAGHDAD, 2003

02:38

Baghdad GV. Super:
BAGHDAD, 2023

02:52

Stephanie walking, Baghdad street

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: The invasion of Iraq 20 years ago by US, British and Australian forces sent the country into chaos and violence, creating the foundations for the barbaric Islamic State caliphate, which took tens of thousands of lives.

03:08

Baghdad Mosque GV, street activity GVs

Today, residents of Baghdad are enjoying a period of relative peace.

03:23

But decades of war has left hundreds of thousands of Iraqis missing, and the government is under pressure to find them.

03:40

Department of Mass Graves building and boxes

This is the Department of Mass Graves, and inside are boxes and boxes of bones.

03:50

Workers in mortuary washing bones

They are carefully washed, and then painstakingly pieced together.

04:00

Dr Narib shows skull

DR MOHAMMED NARIB, MORTUARY MANAGER: This young person has been murdered in headshot in the skull, so this is the exit of the bullet.

04:07

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Mortuary manager Dr Mohammed Narib and his team are examining the bones of a Yazidi teenager pulled out of a mass grave.

04:17

Dr Narib interview in mortuary

DR MOHAMMED NARIB, MORTUARY MANAGER: From each grave is different number, most grave are around 20 to 30 case, but we have some cases like about 50 to 60 cases. The most difficult thing that we face here is the when the bones are mixed between more than two persons, so we have to separate them bone by bone.

04:26

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: The cases these teams work on date back decades, but it's the victims of ISIS that are taking priority.

04:45

DR MOHAMMED NARIB, MORTUARY MANAGER: The cold cases is for example the Iraqi and Iranian war, they were killed in the '80s, there is no families waiting to receive the victim. But here, no, there is a family waiting.

04:54

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05:08

Map showing Baghdad and Sinjar

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: 500 kilometres from Baghdad in northern Iraq is the Yazidi homeland Sinjar.

05:12

Stephanie in car

Much of the area is still in ruins.

05:23

Aerial Kocho

One of the most tragic events in this genocide happened in the village of Kocho.

DR ELYAS SALIH QASIM: Kocho was well known in the Sinjar region. The people here were leading good lives, mainly working in agriculture.

05:34

Dr Elyas in cemetery

The wedding celebrations here were famous in the region.

05:54

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Dr Elyas Salih Qasim once lived a happy, quiet life in Kocho.

06:03

DR ELYAS SALIH QASIM: "May god rest your souls."

06:09

Graveyard in former school ground

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: This was once a school ground where villagers used to celebrate those famous weddings.

06:14

Dr Elyas and Stephanie walk through graves

DR ELYAS SALIH QASIM: Now you see 517 graves.

06:21

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Many of the graves are still empty. Their bodies are either missing, or their bones are somewhere in the boxes in Baghdad.

06:30

Dr Elyas interview in graveyard

DR ELYAS SALIH QASIM: Every 6 months or every year, they recover 50 to 60 bodies. We wish that all the bodies could be found at once, so we could finally find peace. People are killed once, but we are getting killed 10 times. Every time bodies are found, our wounds open up.

06:39

Dr Elyas shows photos of murdered relatives

07:04

This is my mother, this is my brother. This is my brother. This is my brother, my brother, my brother, my son, daughters of my brother, son of my brother, son of my brother, my son, my son, my wife. That is my sister.

07:13

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: In 2014, ISIS militants rounded up the 1250 villagers and brought them here to the local school. They forced the women and children upstairs and put the men on trucks.

07:41

DR ELYAS SALIH QASIM: They took us that way out and I thought 'They're taking us to Sinjar mountain' and then they swerved to the right and I thought 'where are they taking us?'

07:55

Dr Elyas to place of torture

There was another car behind us, then another. Four trucks in all, 50 to 60 people.

08:08

Somewhere here… Right about here was my spot. This is where I was. One group of men was here, the other over there. Over there, they were filming us. Then they chanted 'Allahu Akbar', and ordered their men to open fire at us. If anyone made a noise, they would shoot again. Anyone who moved was being shot again. Here are some of the bullets.

08:23

I was injured, I was shot in my leg and I didn't know if my leg was broken or not. I kept quiet and didn't make any noise. I knew that they would shoot again if I did so.

09:06

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Over 24 hours, Dr Elyas crawled to safety. He was one of only 19 men from the entire village to survive the massacres.

09:22

Dr Elyas into deserted home

But ISIS had taken over, moving into his home and clinic.

09:34

DR ELYAS SALIH QASIM: This is my bedroom.

09:48

I and my wife and Saleh. This is my bedroom.

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: His youngest son, Saleh, was taken by ISIS and is still missing.

09:57

DR ELYAS SALIH QASIM: He was 14 years old. His mother and I loved him so much, he slept in the same room as us.

10:16

Dr Elyas interview

I cannot forget him. But he's gone. The young boys were taken to camps to be trained. They gave them military training. I do not know anything about Saleh. Six years ago, a family from our village who was liberated in Syria, one of them said he saw Saleh as a guard for an ISIS leader. True or false, who knows? I know nothing about Saleh's fate.

10:29

Dr Elyas weeps

I still get very upset when I see his picture, more than my other children, my mother and my wife. He was the spoilt youngest son. What can I do?

11:19

Aerial. Sinjar

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: The hunt for the more than 2,600 Yazidis still missing continues

11:40

Abdullah Shrim dresses in beekeeping gear

through people like Abdullah Shrim, known as the Beekeeper of Sinjar.

11:46

Abdullah tending hives

ABDULLAH SHRIM: Prior to 2014, I had lived in Aleppo and Raqqa in Syria. I was doing honey business in that region.

11:52

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: 56 members of his family were abducted by ISIS. The women and children were taken and sold as slaves to fighters in Iraq and Syria.

12:04

ABDULLAH SHRIM: I had connections to the businessmen in those areas, and when family members were abducted I contacted them. I asked if they could help rescue these Yazidi people. They said people smuggling cigarettes into ISIS areas might be able to help.

12:14

The first they helped rescue was my niece, Marwa. She was the first to be rescued from Syria.

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Abdullah 100%

Some days 50 people were visiting our home, asking us to help to rescue their family members from ISIS.

12:47

Abdullah takes maps from wardrobe

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Posing as an arms dealer he infiltrated ISIS's online markets where they traded Yazidi slaves.

ABDULLAH SHRIM: We found ways to enter those channels and groups.

12:55

Abdullah and Stephanie look at maps

For instance, I published images of suicide bombs, firearms, TNT, and pretended that I had those ready to sell. At the same time, the real ISIS members were advertising images of captive girls to trade them among themselves.

13:16

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: So what does this one say?

13:36

Images on phone of captive girls for sale

ABDULLAH SHRIM: This ISIS man is describing an 11-year-old captive girl here who is a virgin. He says that the girl is beautiful and obedient and he is putting the girl on sale for 9,000 US dollars. He adds that her hair is short.

13:38

I would pretend I was interested in meeting them and buying her as a slave.

13:59

Abdullah 100%

They would send me their locations, which I saved and shared with my friends in the smuggling network. I'd send them the image of the girl and they were able to rescue her.

14:06

Abdullah and Stephanie look at maps

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: His work came with enormous risk.

14:20

Images and messages of Abdullah sent by ISIS

ABDULLAH SHRIM: We were being threatened often. I was sent images of myself in Duhok next to my car or sitting at a cafe somewhere. The messages said 'we can kill you any time we want.'

14:26

Abdullah 100%

ISIS would sometimes video call me while they were tormenting captives. I'll never forget this 12 year old girl. They called me while they were raping her. They wanted to undermine my work. I would always say that my life - Abdullah Shrim's life is nothing compared to the tears of one young Yazidi girl.

14:40

Abdullah walking into house

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: So far he has rescued 399 people, but the work is getting harder.

ABDULLAH SHRIM: We are still working on multiple cases. There is no local or international support for our work.

15:15

Some captives have ended up in Turkey, others remain in cities and villages in Syria. It was easier when we knew where ISIS territory was. Now, they have mixed with the civilians and it's harder.

15:36

Map showing Sinjar and Dohuk

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Many of the Yazidis who once lived in Sinjar, including those who have been rescued, have found refuge in Dohuk, a city in Iraq controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government.

16:0

Aerials. Dohuk

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16:14

Street GVs

16:25

Sarab walking in market

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: One of those survivors is 20-year-old Sarab. She was just 11 when she was taken by ISIS and sold as a slave.

16:31

SARAB: We had to escape towards the mountain. My two sisters and I were with my aunt. We were caught because we were in a truck.

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Sarab 100%

An ISIS man carried me off the truck. My sister grabbed my leg. The man said he was taking us to our village and we shouldn't be afraid.

16:56

Sarab in market

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Instead, she was held captive for five and a half years and was passed between six different men. When she was 13, she alleges she was given to an Australian.

17:06

SARAB: I had to stay with them for three days, and if they liked my work, they were going to buy me. It was very unpleasant.

17:20

Sarab 100%

I was their slave and they could do whatever they wanted to me. My life was controlled by them. It felt like my existence did not matter. Initially, they kept me there for three days. But then they said that they won't buy me, because they don't want to buy slaves.

17:32

Stephanie and Sarab look at photo of Mohammed Ahmad on phone

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: She identifies her captor as Mohammed Ahmad from Melbourne, who she knew as Abu Omar. He's being held in a Syrian prison without charge and denies being a member of ISIS. Sarab's friend Tayseer alleges she was later a slave to Abu Omar for more than a year. In 2019, he gave an interview to the ABC.

17:57

Archival interview with Mohammed Ahmed

Interviewer: What about the Yazidi, Did you have any Yazidi women in your house?

18:25

Mohammed Ahmad: Uh... No, I don't have any, didn't have any Yazidis.

Interviewer: Who had it?

Mohammed Ahmed: Who? My son had it.

18:30

Interviewer: How many Yazidi did he have?

Mohammed Ahmad: One.

18:38

Interviewer: Like a sex slave?

Mohammed Ahmad: Uh, it was more like a... helper, yani.

18:43

Look we, we treated her like a daughter yani, anyway, so it's nothing. You know. It was nothing, uh... It was nothing, it was- we treat her like one of the family, yani.

18:52

Interviewer: Was she living with you in the same house?

Mohammed Ahmed: Yes, she was.

19:03

Sarab on phone to Tayseer

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Sarab calls Tayseer so she can tell us what happened to her.

SARAB: They will record your testimony when you confirm the information… Alright then. Tayseer says she was held by him, not the son.

19:09

TAYSEER: I was held by Abu Omar, and he treated me horribly.

19:28

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Unlike Sarab, Tayseer alleges she was kept as a domestic slave and Abu Omar raped her multiple times.

19:34

SARAB: You know he's told them he didn't do anything illegal.

TAYSEER: He's lying.

SARAB: They were... First of all, I was the same age as his children. He could've been my father or grandfather. There's nothing worse than the things he did to me.

19:43

Photo. Mohammed Ahmed in prison

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: We tracked Mohammed Ahmed down again in the Syrian prison system. He denies all these allegations.

20:10

Sarab on phone to Tayseer

And now says he never even saw his son's Yazidi slave.

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Sarab wants those who held her and Tayseer captive to face justice.

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Sarab 100%

SARAB: For sure that's very important. Each state has its own laws and punishments, but they should not forget what happened to the Yazidis. Because ISIS committed many crimes against our people.

20:31

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Would you be prepared to testify against them?

SARAB: Yes I will.

20:47

Music

20:54

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Not all survivors who had contact with Australians living in the ISIS caliphate are willing to go on camera.

20:59

Stephanie into car, to camera

I just met with another survivor who came into contact with an Australian ISIS woman when they were in Raqqa in about 2017. She says her friend, who was 10 years old, was held by this Australian woman and her foreign fighter husband. She says she saw this woman beat this 10-year-old Yazidi girl with sandals, with sticks, she pulled her hair, she made her look after her two children. And she said the Australian woman did nothing when her foreign fighter husband repeatedly raped this 10-year-old girl.

21:06

Dohuk GVs

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21:48

Stephanie enters Yazda office

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: In Dohuk, an NGO called Yazda is trying to get ISIS perpetrators prosecuted, no matter where those perpetrators are.

21:52

Sarab in Yazda office

They have collected testimonies from more than 2,000 Yazidis like Sarab who were victims of ISIS' crimes. Among them are allegations against Australians.

22:02

Recording studio for filming evidence from victims

NATIA NAVROUZOV: With the team we are collecting evidence of ISIS crimes against the Yazidi community and the overall goal is to bring them justice.

22:14

Natia in office

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Legal Advocacy Director, Natia Navrouzov, is part of a team helping to secure convictions in Germany.

22:25

Natia 100%

NATIA NAVROUZOV: Germany is until today the only country that has convicted ISIS members for committing international crimes. So genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes against the Yazidi community.

22:34

Map of Iraq in office

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: She says it's not farfetched to think the same thing could happen in Australia.

22:46

NATIA NAVROUZOV: Like Germany, Australian nationals joined ISIS and some of them have returned or might return home.

22:52

Natia 100%

Everyone should be indicted and prosecuted based on the crimes they have committed. And I know that it's difficult for Australia, since those crimes were committed far from home. But we are here and other NGOs, including UNITAD, the UN investigative team which is documenting ISIS crimes, are available to collaborate and share the evidence as needed.

23:01

Sinjar aerials

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23:25

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: For some Yazidis, returning home will never be an option.

23:31

Al-Hol camp GVs

When the ISIS caliphate fell in 2019, many Yazidi slaves ended up in Al-Hol camp in Syria. Some of those Yazidi women had been raped by their ISIS captors and had children - children that would never be accepted by some in the Yazidi community.

23:36

PETER GALBRAITH: These are the children of the people who kidnapped their women, who committed genocide against their men. So, you know, there's great hatred

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Galbraith 100%

for the men who committed these crimes, for the fathers. And sadly, that's transferred to these children who are completely innocent.

24:08

Photos. Galbraith with US presidents and others

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Veteran US diplomat Peter Galbraith found out that many of these women had been brought back to Iraq without their children, and some wanted their kids back. Using his connections, in 2021 he arranged for them to be reunited.

24:16

Galbraith 100%

PETER GALBRAITH: The reunion was probably the most emotional thing I've witnessed in my life.

24:35

Reunion of women with children

These mothers were just in tears as they, you know, quickly identified which was, which child was theirs and just fell down and hugged them. And the poor children were just bewildered. None of them knew who these women were. The oldest was not yet five, and the youngest was two; the youngest had been taken from her mother when the child was just hours after being born. So it was really a heart wrenching scene.

24:39

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Since then the mothers and their children been living in a safehouse in a location we can't disclose, but it's not long-term solution.

PETER GALBRAITH: It was impossible for them to go back with their families or with their community.

25:13

Galbraith 100%

Because they were literally in mortal danger.

25:31

Mothers with children

One group has already been resettled to a European country, but there are still

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Galbraith 100%

10 children and seven mothers who want to go to Australia.

25:37

Town GV/Stephanie working on computer

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: I spoke to one of the mothers who's applied for a visa for Australia, but she didn't want to go on camera. More than two years ago she applied for a visa

25:42

Stephanie to camera

to Australia for her, her daughter and her immediate family so they could live together safely. She says she was told today that it will be at least six months more before they're resettled. And she is worried that every day she has to wait, the greater the risk that someone in her community will find out her secret.

25:55

Roadside vehicles/Town aerials

PETER GALBRAITH: I know Australia's taken back some of the people who joined the Islamic State.

26:20

Galbraith 100%

I think that's fine. But surely, if you're going to take back the people who joined the Islamic state, can't you reach out and move more quickly to take back the victims of the Islamic State, the ones who have suffered the most.

26:24

Aerials. Yazidi refugee camp

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26:38

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Here in northern Iraq, amid the suffering, we have come across one Yazidi story that is truly heart-warming.

26:47

Dakheel in camp

Dakheel Hassan is one of the more than ten thousand residents in this Yazidi refugee camp near Dohuk. For nine years, he has been mourning the loss of his wife, Samea.

26:54

Dakheel 100%

DAKHEEL: I was at home and she was at her parents. Her entire family was captured. Life was very difficult during those nine years. I didn't even think about remarrying. Samea and I loved each other a lot.

27:11

Dakheel in car, hanging photo of Samea

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: A month ago he got an extraordinary message; it was from Samea. She was alive.

27:28

Dakheel on phone

The ISIS family holding her in Turkey had been tracked down by authorities, and she was finally free.

27:36

Dakheel and Samea walk

SAMEA: I couldn't believe Dakheel hadn't remarried after all these years.

27:43

Samea 100%

I was very happy when I found out he wasn't remarried. I sent him a photo of my hand so he knew it was me. I was very happy to see him. Very, very happy.

27:53

Dakheel and Samea walk

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28:11

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: After so long apart, they've decided to marry for a second time.

28:17

Dakheel and Samea in menswear shop

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28:22

DAKHEEL: "I don't know how to tie a tie."

SHOPKEEPER: "Go to YouTube."

28:25

Wedding celebration

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Their story has provided the community with hope, and hundreds have turned out for the celebration.

28:32

Just weeks ago Samea was a slave. Today she's a bride. But their story is not yet over. They want to leave Iraq and move to Australia where Dakheel's family have been granted visas. He didn't apply because he didn't want to leave Iraq while his wife was still missing.

28:43

DAKHEEL: What happened to us wasn't easy. We want to go abroad.

29:10

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: These Yazidis have survived ISIS's genocide, but a future in their homeland is in no way guaranteed.

29:20

Sinjar shrine

ABDULLAH SHRIM The populations of these communities continues to shrink to smaller and smaller sizes.

29:30

My hope is that the international community, which spends money to prevent an endangered species from extinction, will consider our plight and create an environment so that Yazidis will not vanish.

29:39

Dancing at wedding. Credits [see below]

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30:02

Out point