Kurdish fighter who gave up being a student to fight Isis describes horrors she witnessed
Joanna Palani witnessed children being sexually assaulted by Isis soldiers
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A woman who gave up her life as a student to fight Isis militants in Syria has described the horrors she witnessed in the country.
Joanna Palani, 23, left college in November 2014 to ‘fight for human rights for all people’ with the People’s Protection Unit (the YPG) for six months, before joining the Peshmerga for an additional six months.
The Kurdish fighter claims she saw children being sexually abused by Isis fighters.
he said she was shocked to discover a ‘holding house’ in a village her battalion liberated near Mosul, Iraq where young girls were locked up and sexually abused by fighters.
In an interview with Broadly, she said: “Even though I am a fighter it is difficult for me to read about how a 10-year-old girl is going to die because she is bleeding from a rape.”
She told how one 11-year-old victim was left pregnant with twins after being raped, and later died in hospital.
Ms Palani learnt to use a gun aged nine and trained other female Kurdish fighters.
She said ISIS fighters are “very easy to kill” in comparison to Assad’s soldiers, who she found “very well-trained and are specialist killing machines”.
On her first night in the front line she witnessed her comrade being shot dead in front of her by a sniper.
But when Ms Palani returned to Copenhagen on leave she received an email from Kurdish police informing her that her passport was no longer valid.
She said if she returned to Syria or Iraq she could be imprisoned for up to six years under new laws designed to stop Isis supporters joining the terror group in conflict zones.
Ms Palani is now deciding whether to give up her passport and rejoin her battalion or remain in Copenhagen.
She told Broadly: "These small girls, the sex slaves, I can't as a human being—but especially as a Kurdish girl—I can't ignore them. I can't say I'm doing good in Denmark, so never mind what they are doing to these girls in Kurdistan."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments