A KBR woman from describes captivity conditions in Iraq

Aisha Efendieva, a native of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), who awaits trial in Iraq, has written a letter to her relatives and described inhuman conditions of detention and abuse. The woman asks her relatives to return her with her children home from captivity.

According to Aisha, she and her husband Nodar found themselves without documents in Iraq after their unsuccessful attempt to leave Syria for Turkey. In August 2017, they were captured by the Shiite armed formation "Khashdi Shabi", which members fought in Iraq against the IS*. Aisha fears that her and other women "will be sold to Iran as prostitutes."

Aisha has complained that she and other women are constantly being humiliated and beaten.

"We have not been outside for five months. Everyone is sick. There are 210 of us, and there is only one bath and one toilet for all of us... It's very cold, and we sleep on the floor," the woman writes in her letter.

The Iraqi authorities are not willing to facilitate the return to Russia of the women sentenced to life imprisonment, notes Alexander Cherkasov, the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The above return is possible after a court verdict and a request of the Russian authorities for extradition of a citizen, but the authorities of Iraq are not willing to give out to Russia the women sentenced to life imprisonment.