Lawyer Amal Clooney arrives at a news conference for Mohamed Nasheed, in central London, Britain January 25, 2016.
Lawyer Amal Clooney arrives at a news conference for Mohamed Nasheed, in central London, Britain January 25, 2016. Reuters/Stefan Wermuth

Amal Clooney is taking the Islamic State to court to answer for its crimes. The human rights lawyer is representing a 23-year-old Yazidi woman who was raped by her ISIS captors after she was sold as a sex slave to an Islamic State commander.

Her client, Nadia Murad, was captured in 2014 when the militants invaded their Yazidi village. The ISIS killed her mother and six of her eight brothers. She was then kidnapped and forced to become their sex slave.

She escaped after three months, but those few months in captivity have forever scarred her for life. She was raped by a dozen men, sometimes two at a time until she passed out. The young woman often prayed for death before she was finally able to escape.

Clooney said in an interview with NBC News that the goal is to get the International Criminal Court to prosecute the crimes committed by the ISIS against the Yazidis. The ICC, which prosecutes crimes against humanity, cannot investigate on the matter because Syria and Iraq are not members. The UN Security Council can sanction an investigation, though.

Clooney is appealing for the support of China and Russia, both permanent members of the Security Council that previously voted against an open investigation by the ICC into the war crimes in Syria. She told the program that Russia was “open” to discussing an investigation, while China will meet with her this week.

“Victims have all said they actually want their day in court,” the 38-year-old barrister said. “It’s not going to be easy, but we’re working on multiple fronts.”

The Lebanese-British lawyer has taken high profile cases in the past, including representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed. However, Murad’s case against ISIS might be her most dangerous case yet.

When asked about the dangers she face in taking on the case, Clooney downplayed her own safety concerns, instead shifting the focus on Murad’s courageous survival.

“I don’t think anyone can feel that they’re being courageous compared to what Nadia’s doing and what all the women who’ve suffered what Nadia’s suffered are doing,” she told NBC.

She has, however, discussed the matter with her husband, Hollywood A-list star George Clooney, before taking on the case. George is also an ardent activist for humanitarian causes.

“He met Nadia, too, and I think he was moved for the same reason,” Clooney said. “He understood that I have spent my career working on international justice and this is a clear case of genocide and genocide that’s gone completely unaddressed and ignored.”

Clooney has acknowledged that the legal war against ISIS would not be easy, but she and Murad would not give up until the group is held accountable.

“She can’t think about her own life or safety until she knows that there’s some process where ISIS is going to be held to account for their crimes. And, unfortunately, we’re still far away from that happening,” the barrister said.

Murad has recently been named a UN Goodwill Ambassador and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize this year.