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Former Sex Slave Nadia Murad And Her Lawyer Amal Clooney Describe Their Campaign To Bring Islamic State To Justice In The Feb/March Issue Of 1843

In August 2014 Murad watched as IS fighters murdered her friends and family because of their Yazidi faith and took her and thousands of others as prisoners.

Former Sex Slave Nadia Murad And Her Lawyer Amal Clooney Describe Their Campaign To Bring Islamic State To Justice In The Feb/March Issue Of 1843  - Lioness MagazineLONDON –  1843‘s February/March cover story features Amal Clooney’s fight to bring Islamic State to the International Criminal Court. The article, entitled “Two Women, One Cause,” describes how Amal Clooney and Nadia Murad, an Iraqi woman, are campaigning to highlight the atrocities carried out by Islamic State (IS) on the Yazidi people and to get IS indicted by the International Criminal Court.

The article explores the extraordinary story of two women working together to bring those responsible for genocide to account. In August 2014 Murad watched as IS fighters murdered many of her friends and family because of their Yazidi faith and took thousands of others as prisoners including Murad herself. After weeks of being raped daily, Murad managed to escape her captors and was able to flee to Germany.

Murad and Clooney bring different strengths to their campaign. In a society in which rape brings shame to the victim as well as the perpetrator, Murad shows extraordinary courage in speaking out about her ordeal. Clooney is using her brains, as a highly regarded human-rights lawyer, and her fame as the wife of a Hollywood superstar. She is framing a legal strategy, keeping the case in the headlines and lobbying governments to take it seriously; and the article suggests that Clooney’s high profile is helping to win attention for her cause:  “Today her [Clooney’s] celebrity may sometimes be a distraction, but it has undoubtedly made her more effective as an advocate.”

Author Robert Guest interviewed Murad and Clooney for the piece and travelled to Mount Sinjar in Iraq to find out more about the situation on the ground.  He explains why this story is so important:  “Getting governments to care about human-rights abuses in far-off places is hard. But Amal Clooney and Nadia Murad make a very effective team. Amal is brainy and famous and great at grabbing politicians’ attention. And Nadia is probably the bravest person I’ve ever met. I doubt anyone can hear her story without weeping.”

Emma Duncan, 1843‘s editor, says, “We’re proud to be carrying such an important story about two remarkable women.”

You can read the full feature piece in this February/March 2017 issue of 1843 available now on newsstands, on 1843magazine.com.

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