The Islamic State (Isis) militants forced a Yazidi woman to 'repair' her hymen 20 times to restore her virginity before marrying her off to its fighters, a United Nations official has revealed.
According to Zainab Bangura, UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, who interviewed several rescued women held as sex slaves by the Isis, the group performed surgery on women to restore their 'virginity'.
The UN envoy in the report based on accounts presented by the local doctors claimed that the sex slaves, before being married to Isis fighters, were made to go through surgical procedure under local anaesthetic to "repair" the hymen using dissoluble stitches.
The doctors would then reconstruct the hymen so that it can rupture again on the wedding night, which would then be held as a proof of her virginity.
In a shocking revelation, the UN envoy noted that the sex slaves were being stripped naked and sold at the slave markets run by the Isis in Syria and Iraq.
"Girls are literally being stripped naked and examined in slave bazaars...categorised and shipped naked to Dohuk, Mosul or other locations to be distributed among Isis leadership and fighters," she said.
Citing the UN report, The Independent noted that the Isis wives were subjected to 'brutal, abnormal' sexual acts.
Girls as young as five-year-old were raped and abused by the Isis and later many of these abused children were sent back home after they became pregnant, the report noted.
"Isi[s] have institutionalised sexual violence and the brutalisation of women as a central aspect of their ideology and operations, using it as a tactic of terrorism to advance their key strategic objectives," she added.
