A German ISIS woman: "Our life under ISIS was difficult, they were lying and raping women"
Ein Issa – North-Press Agency
Yehya Omar/Fayad Muhammad
After the territorial defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) in its last stronghold in the town of al-Baghouz, hundreds of its militants who had surrendered were taken to detention centers, while women and children were moved to camps in northeastern Syria.
Some of those women demand their governments to take them back to their countries, while some others prefer to stay in Syria to be subject to an international tribunal.
The 29-year-old Elena, who is from Germany and a mother of two children told North-Press her story of moving from her country to Syria.
Elena who is staying now in a camp in Ein Issa, Raqqa said: “My husband Sarkan whose mother is Turkish and his father is German and I had grown up together and were studying together in one school when we were young”.
Because of many problems, Elena and Sarkan got divorced after 5 years of their marriage. She converted to Islam and they got married again after 9 months of separation.
Elena’s beginnings with ISIS
While telling her story to North-Press, Elena claimed that one of the reasons which made her husband move to Syria was “lack of money”.
“My husband joined a group (without mentioning which group) through his Afghan female-friend, as this group was helping the Muslims in all countries with medicines, treatment, and ambulances”, she said.
“My husband told the group, I can help you and I can drive a car for you, and they asked him to go to Syria with them so he can see the situation there by his own eyes,” Elena added.
She also revealed that her husband had joined the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and al-Nusra Front, while she assured that they told her husband that there are lots of immigrants (al-Muhajirin) from other countries.
These events took place in 2013, at that time, the armed opposition groups and al-Nusra Front asked her husband Sarkan, to stay with them and that “you are one of al-Ikhwa (brothers), and that they are new in Islam”.
As for the reasons for her arrival to Syria, she said that her husband called her saying: “I’ll stay in Syria, come here because there is a war, and many Muslims are in need for help, you want to see the situation in Syria and help the children”.
Claims and Facts
While Elena claimed that al-Nusra Front and other armed opposition groups had killed her husband, Elena retracted her words and claimed that her husband was released and moved from Aleppo to Raqqa in 2014, after being imprisoned for a long time, despite the fact that the opposition groups and al-Nusra Front had previously welcomed her husband Sarkan.
“I went to Aleppo, but I didn’t meet my husband, a man told me that he knew where my husband was. Then, they took me to Raqqa in 2014, and to realize that my husband was in an FSA and al-Nusra Front prison, as he was released after a while,” Elena added.
“My husband was brought from the prison of al-Nusra Front to Raqqa, where they told him that you are our brother, you’re welcome and we are the state of Islam”. Elena said that they gave her husband a two-month break, and then they sent him to fight in Deir Ez-Zor to be killed there.
Marriage, flee and arrest
After the killing of her husband, Elena confirmed that she contacted her family in 2015 and stressed that they asked her to “escape and return, but my attempts doomed to fail, as ISIS militants arrested me and imprisoned me”.
After her release from prison, “I got married to an Afghan man, and now he’s detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),” she said pointing out that after she has arrived in a camp she learned that her Afghan husband was 19 years old as he claimed that he was older than that.
When Elena, along with her Afghan husband came out of the town of Hajin in Deir ez-Zor via smugglers, she headed to Tal Abyad, where she was arrested by SDF in 2018, nearby a US observation point.
Elena concluded that she wants badly to return to her country, recalling her great fears as she was living under the control of ISIS, saying: “I was so afraid, our life under the control of the Islamic State was difficult, they were lying and raping women”.
It’s worth mentioning that the SDF announced its control over the town of al-Baghouz, the last ISIS stronghold, on March 19, 2019, after the surrender of thousands of ISIS families.
In turn, SDF has transferred ISIS women and children to al-Hawl IDPs camp in Hasakah, while former ISIS militants were transferred to detention centers.
There are women of about 50 nationalities in the camp, who only share one thing, they are all wives of ISIS members and leaders.