In August 2014, thousands of Yazidi women and children (an ethnically Kurdish religious community) were taken prisoner by ISIS, when the group attempted to eliminate the minority due to their ancient faith.

Since then, the Islamic State group has been selling the women off as sex slaves.

Using the Telegram app, a chilling advert in Arabic appeared, along with ads for kittens, weapons, and tactical gear, in an encrypted conversation:

Virgin. Beautiful. 12 years old…. Her price has reached $12,500 and she will be sold soon.

The post was shared with Associated Press by an activist with the minority Yazidi community. While ISIS is losing territory, it is now tightening its grip on the estimated 3 000 women and girls it still has as sex slaves.

NY Post continues:

In a fusion of ancient barbaric practices and modern technology, IS sells the women like chattel on smartphone apps and shares databases that contain their photographs and the names of their “owners” to prevent their escape through IS checkpoints. The fighters are assassinating smugglers who rescue the captives, just as funds to buy the women out of slavery are drying up.

Since (their capture), Arab and Kurdish smugglers managed to free an average of 134 people a month. But by May, an IS crackdown reduced those numbers to just 39 in the last six weeks, according to figures provided by the Kurdistan regional government.

Mirza Danai, founder of the German-Iraqi aid organization Luftbrucke Irak, said in the last two or three months, escape has become more difficult and dangerous.

“They register every slave, every person under their owner, and therefore if she escapes, every Daesh control or checkpoint, or security force — they know that this girl … has escaped from this owner,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the group.

The above images are of Lamiya Aji Bashar.

She tried to flee four times before finally escaping in March, racing to government-controlled territory with Islamic State group fighters in pursuit. A land mine exploded, leaving Lamiya blind in her right eye, her face scarred by melted skin.

Saved by the man who smuggled her out, she counts herself among the lucky.

“I managed in the end, thanks to God, I managed to get away from those infidels,” the 18-year-told the AP from a bed at her uncle’s home in the northern Iraqi town of Baadre. “Even if I had lost both eyes, it would have been worth it, because I have survived them.”

Read more about the horrific trade HERE.

[source: nypost]