Canadian businessman Steve Maman had raised half a million dollars as of Thursday via crowdfunding site GoFundMe for a controversial scheme to ransom Yezidi and Christian women from their ISIS captors.
Maman, who claims to have already rescued 128 girls and women from ISIS captivity, told investigative website Vocativ that he has been paying middlemen who negotiate with ISIS to ransom the women for between $1,000 and $3,000. The deals are said to take place in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The women, many of whom have faced violent sexual abuse, are then taken to refugee camps where they receive food, water, shelter and medical care, Maman told Vocativ.
But critics have raised red flags about the scheme, worrying that Maman is only funneling more money to ISIS’ terrorist campaign. Others are worried that the ransoms will simply encourage further abductions, which in turn will drive ransom demands even higher.
Thousands of Yezidis have been killed by ISIS and there are thought be large numbers of Yezidi and Christian women living in sexual captivity to ISIS fighters.
[Vocativ]
Meet the Kurdish Women Taking the Battle to ISIS
![kurdish-women-fighters-syria-isis-newsha-tavakolian-09 18-year-old YPJ fighter Torin Khairegi: “We live ina world where women are dominated by men.We are here to take control of our future..I injured an ISIS jihadi in Kobane. When he was wounded, all his friends left him behind and ran away. Later I went there and buried his body. I now feel that I am very powerful and can defend my home, my friends, my country, and myself. Many of us have been matryred and I see no path other than the continuation of their path." Newsha Tavakolian for TIME Zinar base, Syria "I joined YPJ about seven months ago, because I was looking for something meaningful in my life and my leader [ Abdullah Ocalan] showed me the way and my role in the society. We live in a world where women are dominated by men. We are here to take control of our own future. We are not merely fighting with arms; we fight with our thoughts. Ocalan's ideology is always in our hearts and minds and it is with his thought that we become so empowered that we can even become better soldiers than men. When I am at the frontline, the thought of all the cruelty and injustice against women enrages me so much that I become extra-powerful in combat. I injured an ISIS jihadi in Kobane. When he was wounded, all his friends left him behind and ran away. Later I went there and buried his body. I now feel that I am very powerful and can defend my home, my friends, my country, and myself. Many of us have been matryred and I see no path other than the continuation of their path."](https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/kurdish-women-fighters-syria-isis-newsha-tavakolian-09.jpg?quality=85&w=745)

