Nine-year-old Sakina filed for divorce and was later married to an Afghan man for six months. Her story was featured on CNN in a 2013 exposé on modern-day slavery in Afghanistan. Her story of torture and violence while under the control of her now former husband is documented in her new book, “One In Seven: Inside the Global Game of Modern Slavery.”
“We believe that Sakina was trafficked to Kabul, Afghanistan by one of the terrorist groups during the time of the U.S. invasion (of Afghanistan) in 2001,” he wrote. The Islamic State has not yet claimed responsibility for Sakina’s kidnapping.
Sakina was just 7 when she first started to be auctioned off to the highest bidder for thousands of dollars, ABC News reported. “One United States soldier ordered her hand to the other side of a room filled with trafficking rings,” according to the book. “He then stripped off her clothes and forced her face down into his lap.”
After nine months of living with the terrorist group and suffering beatings and punishment, Sakina was eventually rescued by human rights organizations and taken to her new home in Phoenix, Arizona. The incident set her on a path of self-acceptance and empowerment.
In the US, Sakina is a junior at Taft High School. Her dream is to become a lawyer or a pediatrician. “I would like to help rescue as many people as I can,” she said.
“The day before the article ran, I was arrested and I wanted to go to jail because I was hiding,” Sakina said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Then I felt happy because I was alone.”
CNN contributed to this report.