ISIS sex slave, 13, reveals how murdered American hostage Kayla Mueller’s selfless bravery inspired her escape
US aid worker looked after younger hostages and sacrificed her own chance to escape to save others
A TEENAGE girl held captive by ISIS alongside Kayla Mueller has revealed the American aid worker's courage inspired to her escape from the terror group's clutches.
The 15-year-old Yazidi, known as Julia, was one of the last people to see Kayla before she was killed in Syria last year.
She described how she became close friends with Kayla - who she calls her "big sister" - as they were held together as sex slaves for ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Selfless Kayla, 26, would look after the younger girls and even sacrificed her own opportunity to escape to give Julia a better chance of reaching safety.
Julia said: "I told Kayla, 'We want to escape' and I asked her to come with us.
"She told me, 'No, because I am American, if I escape with you, they will do everything to find us again.
"'It is better for you to escape alone. I will stay here'."
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Julia, who was 13 when she was kidnapped in a raid on her village in Iraq, later managed to flee in the night with another Yazidi girl and found her way to a family who helped them flee to Kurdistan.
She is now living in the West with her sister, who also escaped from ISIS, and in Stockholm.
Julia, who agreed to shows her face but did not want her real name reported, wears the name Kayla Mueller on a rainbow-coloured bracelet on her wrist.
She said she first met Kayla in an ISIS jail in northeast Syria and became close because Kayla could speak Arabic.
She said Kayla was "very good to us" and gave her advice on how to stay safe.
She said: "She gave us a piece of her clothes to cover our face and told us if ISIS comes, you should cover like a burqa, you should cover your face from them."
After a month, they were transferred to the home of an ISIS oil boss and kept as slaves for al-Baghdadi.
The self-declared Caliph of ISIS chose Kayla and repeatedly raped her, taking her "several times in the night for himself", Julia said.
She added: "She tried not to cry in front of us, but when she was alone, yes.
"When she was with us, she wanted to encourage us because of what also happened with us."
Kayla, of Arizona, and her boyfriend Omar Alkhani were captured after both left a Medecins Sans Frontiers hospital in Aleppo.
Parents Carl and Marsha Mueller criticised President Barack Obama for not honouring a pledge to donate to Kayla's Hands, a charitable foundation created in her memory.
Carl also accused the Obama administration of failing to help secure his daughter's release.
He said: "The president could have been a hero, but he chose not to."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he expects Obama will contribute to the foundation in the future.
He said: "It certainly is consistent with the kind of charity organisation that the president and the first lady have supported in the past."
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