Rafida Naif Issa, 22, was abducted by the Islamic State (ISIS) when the group attacked her hometown in the Yazidi heartland of Shingal in the summer of 2014.
Issa was found in al-Hol camp in Hasaka, northeast Syria (Rojava) in October when she was moved to a Jazira branch of the Yazidi House, an umbrella organisation in Rojava for the protection of the ethnoreligious minority's people and culture.
Issa's mother, Ilhan Yousif Mato, visited Rojava one week ago to be reunited with her. They both came back to Duhok province on Sunday, where the young woman was officially handed over and reunited with the rest of her family.
“I am very happy. I have not seen her for seven years,” her mother told Rudaw.
Issa spoke good Kurdish, but did not want to speak to media about her traumatic experience.
According to the Office for Abducted Yazidi Affairs, affiliated to President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani, there are as many as 500 Yazidis at al-Hol – home to thousands of families suspected to have links with ISIS.
Hussein Qyi, head of the office told Rudaw that they have rescued 3,543 of the Yazidis that were held in ISIS captivity, but 2,872 still remain missing.
Another Yazidi woman, 27-year-old Nasrin Ibrahim, was reunited with her family in Duhok in late November after being rescued from al-Hol.
Abdullah Shiren, based in both Shingal and Duhok, has faciltated the rescue of 399 Yazidi women and girls since November 2014, when he help rescue his own niece from ISIS captivity.
Shiren told Rudaw’s Shahyan Tahseen on Sunday that his rescue work has become more difficult because ISIS is now spread over a wider area, albeit more thinly.
“When Daesh [ISIS] was destroyed we thought we would be relieved, but actually our work became harder... Daesh used to be present in some specific areas, but now they have spread over cities, villages, camps and countries.”
However, rescues of Yazidis have become less costly.
“When Daesh was in control of Baghouz, Raqqa and other places, we spent a large amount of money which ranged from $5000 to $10,000 [per case]," Shiren said. "Sometimes it was even higher. But the cost is not high anymore, thanks to al-Hol camp, Yazidi House and Rojava [administration].”
Asked what is hindering the release of Yazidi women and girls still at al-Hol, Shiren said they have been “brainwashed” by other residents of the camp who are affiliated with ISIS, who tell them "that life is better in the camp."
