WOMEN WITHOUT STATUS
CLAIRE COVERS THE ISIS WOMEN LEFT BEHIND AFTER THE WAR IN IRAQ…
Was this story your idea?
Some of those interviews I did on behalf of Amnesty International and others for Oxfam, but most I did on my own. I paid for a fixer, and out of my own curiosity I wanted to learn the stories of these women who were left behind and how they felt about their husbands’ choices to join ISIS. We went to camps and interviewed many of them. They were such nice women, but you never know what they really think. Some still support ISIS, although they’re not keen to say that to journalists. It’s a situation that’s ongoing, women are stuck in camps and they can’t return to their communities because they will face persecution by other community members.