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They escaped Islamic State. But their horror hasn’t ended

By Salem Gebrekiden, Reuters

Libya – One mild morning in October, when the roar of fighter jets over Sirte had died down and the crackle of gunfire had paused, Minya Mesmer decided to break free.

After 14 months as a slave in Libya, the 33-year-old Eritrean had to get away. She could no longer let her Islamic State captors rape, sell and exchange her or her 14-year-old daughter.

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PHOTOS: Minya Mesmer and her daughter look at recent pictures of her three children. It is the first time she has seen them in months. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny

Her previous attempt to escape had left her with two broken legs. But she had healed enough to try again, she thought. She could lean on her daughter and limp past the cargo containers that marked the limits of Islamic State’s shrinking caliphate in the besieged city.

That morning, Mesmer (sounds like mess-mur) shared her plan with her daughter and another 16-year-old Eritrean girl. There were 22 other women holed up in the same building, all of them migrants enslaved by Islamic State. But Mesmer kept the others in the dark, worried that a large group would draw too much attention.

At around 9 a.m., Mesmer and the two girls walked out of the building, their slight frames draped in black abayas and their faces hidden behind niqabs.

Their captors were too distracted to stop them. Islamic State was four months into a vicious fight against pro-government Libyan forces, a war that had claimed hundreds of lives as it moved from neighbourhood to neighbourhood and door to door. The Islamist group was growing tired.

The women walked towards the front line along narrow roads flanked by collapsed buildings. Three blocks south, they came under fire, and ducked into an abandoned building to lie in wait.

“Let them kill us,” Mesmer told the girls. “It’s better than the life we’re leaving behind.”

Mesmer and the girls did not die. But their life would take a new, cruel, turn. The Libyan brigades they surrendered to that day have imprisoned them. After more than a year as Islamic State slaves, the women are accused of being part of the group.

African migrants fleeing their countries to seek freedom, peace or opportunity in Europe – some 175,000 this year alone – embark on a path of tribulation and likely death. Thousands perish crossing the Sahara Desert. Even more drown in the Mediterranean Sea after paying rich sums to smugglers who pack them into the bellies of dilapidated boats.

Read more: They escaped Islamic State. But their horror hasn’t ended

Source: Reuters

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