IS rapes Arab women too: HRW

BAGHDAD: Fighters from the Islamic State group, whose abuses against Yazidi women have been well documented, are raping and torturing Sunni Arab women too, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

The watchdog documented cases of arbitrary detentions, beatings, forced marriages and rape by the Jihadists on women who have fled the town of Hawijah, which is still under IS control.

HRW recounted the story of Hanan, a 26-year-old whose husband had already fled Hawijah, who was captured by IS fighters along with other women when they also attempted to escape the town.

IS fighters told her that her husband’s flight made her an apostate and that she should marry the local Jihadist leader.

When she refused, she was blindfolded, beaten with plastic cables, suspended by her arms for some time and then raped.

"The same guy raped me every day for the next month without a blindfold, always in front of my children," Hanan told HRW.

The group said the issue was not given enough attention and that too little was being done to tackle the stigma that prevents many more victims from coming forward.