The Islamic State is known for its brutality, with its signature beheading videos popping online every few weeks; but it has also shown its abhorrent ruthlessness with the gruesome assaults on women and girls, especially on those from the Yazidi minority.
The Islamic State abducted hundreds of Yazidi men, women and children in August as they took control of the Sinjar region, targeting this minority with 'particularly brutal treatment', according to Amnesty International, which released its report 'Escape from Hell' on Tuesday, listing harrowing accounts of victims.
The United Nations has termed ISIS' attacks on women as violations of international humanitarian law and said it amounts to the war crime of sexual slavery, sexual violence, rape and forced pregnancy.
Taking Women as Sex Slaves
About 45 girls and women revealed the hellish life under captivity of ISIS to the human rights body, highlighting a degree of torture and fear that has pushed many of the girls to suicide to escape atrocities.
ISIS has inflicted horrific crimes against humanity as they captured Yazidis, whom they consider to be infidels, forcing them to convert, subjecting them to sexual violence and other torture.
Yazidi girls as young as 12 have been sold as sex slaves or have been married to ISIS fighters.
"Men came several times to take away some of the girls. Those who resisted were beaten and pulled away by the hair. Some were beaten with electrical cables. I was not afraid of the beatings, but could not bear the thought that they could attack my honour. We were constantly told that we would be forced to marry or sold to some men," a girl related her experience to Amnesty International.
Even pregnant women were forced into marriage by the fighters, who threatened punishment to those who lied about their marital status to escape marriage and rape.
"I had my little boy with me and my pregnancy was very visible already but one of the guards chose me to be his wife. He said that if I did not consent to marrying him he would sell me on to another man who would take me to Syria. I let him believe that I would marry him and managed to run away before he could carry out his threats," a 19-year-old woman said.
The report highlighted the shocking rate of suicides or suicide attempts by women to escape the brutality under the Islamic State.
While some killed themselves by slashing their wrists or hanging themselves, several made failed bids to take their lives.
"We were 21 girls in one room, two of them were very young, 10-12 years. One day we were given clothes that looked like dance costumes and were told to bathe and wear those clothes. Jilan killed herself in the bathroom. She cut her wrists and hanged herself. She was very beautiful. I think she knew that she was going to be taken away by a man and that is why she killed herself," a 20-year-old woman gave a chilling account.
In the last few months, the ISIS has released chilling checklists on how to treat the Yazidi sex slaves, published videos of girls as young as 12 being checked by prospective buyers, and even went on to defend its enslavement of Yazidi girls as a way for men to avoid the "sin of adultery".
ISIS Releases Chilling Checklist of How to Treat Thousands of Kidnapped 'Yazidi' Sex Slaves
Chilling Video Shows ISIS Jihadists Negotiating Price for Yazidi Slave Girls
ISIS Jihadists Say They Take Yazidi Women as Sex Slaves to Avoid 'Sin of Adultery'
Executions: ISIS Beheaded, Stoned Many Women in Iraq and Syria
The ISIS has executed several women by stoning or beheading over charges of adultery or petty issues. In Ar-Raqqah governorate, ISIS executed eight women for alleged adultery in June and July 2014, stoning them to death. The group had detained and beheaded a female dentist in Syria for continuing to treat patients of both sexes this August.
ISIS Sharia Punishment Guide Calls for 'Stoning' Women for Having an Affair
ISIS Syria: First Stoning in Hama; Woman Filmed Pleading for Forgiveness from 'Unmoved' Father
Two Women Stoned to Death for 'Adultery' by ISIS in Syria
A few days ago, reports emerged of ISIS militants executing more than 150 women in an Iraqi town, including pregnant ones, for not agreeing to marry the jihadists.
ISIS Executes 150 Females, Including Pregnant Women for Refusing to Marry Militants in Iraq
Last month, the militants executed two Iraqi female politicians in Mosul with a firing squad, after they found them guilty of unlawful activities against ISIS. The two were arrested by ISIS for their work with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
The two women, who have represented the city in the Iraqi Parliament, were shot in the public square of Faisalya in central Mosul.
ISIS 'Firing Squad' Executes Two Female Iraqi Parliament Members in Mosul
Abuse of Rights of Women
Apart from the brutal crimes against Yazidi women, the ISIS has abused the rights of women in all aspects of life under its rule, excising them from public life and imposing endless restrictions.
A United Nations Inquiry Commission in Syria had listed violations against women by the terror group in a report it released last month, in which it mentioned brutal executions to inhuman restrictions on women's rights under the ISIS rule.
"They (ISIS) are forbidding them (women) from learning, forbidding them from moving around freely. The appearance of a woman is being forcefully altered," Hanaa Edwer, a prominent Iraqi human rights activist, told the Associated Press.
In the ISIS-controlled areas of Syria, women and girls have largely been confined to their houses, the UN said.
Also, women and girls are not permitted to be in the company of men outside of their immediate family.
"The psychological and physical harm caused by ISIS's treatment of women, the onerous instructions imposed on their dress code, and restrictions on their freedom of movement demonstrate discriminatory treatment on the basis of gender," the UN said in its report.
