Yazidi Survivor Publishes Heartbreaking Letters from ISIS Captivity
Amera, a Yazidi woman now living in Australia, has published a powerful book composed of unsent letters she wrote to her lost brother while held captive by Islamic State militants. The book, titled For Ali, For Us All: Messages From Captivity, chronicles her harrowing eight-month ordeal, including kidnapping, violence, and a daring three-day escape.
A Childhood Shattered by ISIS
In August 2014, when Amera was just 11 years old, ISIS militants stormed her village of Solagh in northern Iraq. She last saw her brother Ali under their grandmother's fig tree, as they were forcibly separated by the attackers. Amera is among over 6,000 Yazidi women and children enslaved by ISIS during their genocidal campaign against the religious minority.
More than a decade later, she continues to fight for the estimated 2,700 Yazidis who remain missing, using her book to amplify their plight and demand international attention.
Secret Letters of Hope and Despair
During her captivity, Amera secretly wrote letters to Ali on scraps of paper found in a school desk in Tal Afar, where she was imprisoned with 70 other Yazidis. She hid the notes in her socks, under desks, and in her mother's pockets, driven by fear and a glimmer of hope that someone might find them and understand the atrocities committed by ISIS.
"I wrote because I was scared, but also because I had hope," Amera explains in the book. Despite warnings from her mother about the dangers of writing, she persisted, even after an ISIS fighter burned one of her letters in front of her.
Escape and a New Life in Australia
In April 2015, on her 12th birthday, Amera and fellow captives escaped on foot to Sinui, a Yazidi town in Sinjar, finally free from ISIS. After four years in refugee camps in Iraq, where she describes conditions as "harder than ISIS captivity," her family relocated to Armidale, New South Wales, in 2019.
Now 22, Amera is studying law at university, but the trauma of her experiences lingers. Her book, illustrated by her cousin Suad Smo, who was also held captive, serves as a testament to resilience and a call for justice.
Ongoing Quest for Truth
Amera's focus remains on uncovering the fate of missing Yazidis, including her brother Ali. She frequently re-reads her letters, feeling his presence as she seeks answers. "We just need to know the truth about our loved ones," she says, urging global efforts to investigate the disappearances.
Her story emerges amid debates in Australia about the repatriation of IS-linked individuals, highlighting the complex legacy of conflict for survivors like Amera.
