The prison for Yazidi women in Raqqa

After the occupation of Raqqa, the "Islamic State" (IS) seized private homes and used them as a prison for the Yazidis kidnapped from Shengal four years ago.

After occupying the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, IS used mainly private homes as a prison. One of the seized homes was in the village of Şêx al-Cuma south of the city and belonged to Mezlûh al-Ibrahim. Since it was surrounded by trees and was not visible, it was well suited as a prison. Here were held Yazidi women who had been abducted during the genocidal attack of the terrorist militia on Shengal on 3 August 2014.

Local farmers were prohibited from working in the field near the house. In the house, the women were tortured both mentally and physically. The local people say that repeated escape attempts of the arrested women failed. Those suspected of helping women were publicly executed and their property was sacked. Eyewitnesses remember a nineteen-year-old who was killed in front of everyone because he tried to help the women and was caught. The women were sold at slave markets in the city, mostly to foreign jihadists.

The IS seized residential buildings on the grounds that the owners had worked with the Syrian regime or the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDD). When the SDF's liberation offensive on Raqqa began, the house, which was used as a women's prison, was converted by the IS into a military base and later destroyed during the liberation operations of the SDF and the international coalition.