ISIS Leader Raped American Hostage

Parents of late Kayla Mueller say she was tortured
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 14, 2015 3:32 PM CDT
ISIS Leader Raped American Hostage
IA 2013 photo of Kayla Mueller.   (AP Photo/The Daily Courier, Jo. L. Keener)

Awful reports are emerging today about the late American hostage Kayla Mueller on what would have been her 27th birthday. The Independent reports that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi raped her multiple times while she was in captivity. The story is based on the account of a teenage Yazidi girl who was once held at the same compound, and US officials and Mueller's parents have confirmed. "We were told Kayla was tortured, that she was the property of al-Baghdadi," Carl and Marsha Mueller tell ABC News. "We were told that in June by the government." Mueller was reported killed earlier this year. The US has confirmed her death, but not the account by ISIS that it happened during a raid by coalition aircraft.

Mueller, a humanitarian aid worker, was reportedly kept at the Syrian compound of ISIS financier Abu Sayyaf, and al-Baghdadi would assault the American whenever he visited. “I saw him often, he came there often,” says the Yazidi girl. “And every time he came, he took Kayla away. She would always come back after.” US troops killed Abu Sayyaf during a raid in May, and they captured his wife, Umm Sayyaf. She is accused of organizing the sexual abuse of female captives and is expected to be prosecuted, reports the Independent. (Click to read about Mueller's last letter to her family.)

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