The heroes risking their lives to free ISIS sex slaves subjected to rapes, stonings

Risking certain death and torture in a bid to flee their brutal oppressors, many spend several days making their way through Syria and Iraq to the safety of government-controlled territory.

Many of them have been subjected to appalling violence, rape and sexual abuse at the hands of ISIS fighters and commanders.

Their plight has been documented in the harrowing new Channel 4 documentary Escape from ISIS, which is due to be broadcast this week.

The film follows those responsible for helping the ISIS sex slave victims through a highly co-ordinated escape network.

With little food or water, their escape is made possible with the help of Khaleel Al Dakhi, a lawyer-turned-activist.

ISIS has carried out 'systematic sexual crimes' against girls from the Yazidi community since kidnapping more than 3,000 girls from their homes in northern Iraq last August.

Unjustly regarded as ‘devil worshippers’ on account of their unusual beliefs, the Yazidi have for centuries been one of the most persecuted minorities of the Middle East. Islamic extremists regard them as infidels, worthy only of being killed.

Those considered the 'most beautiful' by ISIS leaders are sent to horrendous auction houses where they are stripped naked and sold to the highest bidder.

Edward Watts, the documentary director, told MailOnline the majority those being rescued were Yazidis who had been treated as 'subhuman' due to the ISIS belief they were 'devil worshippers'.

He said: 'They're desperate to get their hands on a mobile phone and when they do they call their families and tell them "I'm alive".'

Once the families of the women were notified, they contact the resistance network to arrange a rescue, he said.

He added: 'They have all sorts of different ways of doing it, but they have a network of guys inside ISIS [territory].

'They identify where the girls are being held, go in and grab the girls and take them across the frontline.'

The journey to safe territory can be arduous - the film follows the fortunes of a group of women who spend days hiding in a field during downpours, while another young girl loses her shoes and makes the two-day trek barefoot.

Mr Watts said the group claimed to have rescued up to 500 women in total but some rescuers had died in the process.

Only recently two men were killed after ISIS militants set a trap for the rescuers.

Mr Watts explained: 'They got a woman under duress to call up and say "I'm in this house can you come and rescue me, the guy holding me is away", when in fact it was a trap.

'These two guys turned up, ISIS caught them and they were stoned to death.'

(dailymail.co.uk)