'This is my job': Amal Clooney risking life to put ISIS on trial for genocide
Amal Clooney has fought back tears while speaking about her deeply personal mission to take on ISIS and revealed she is willing to risk her life to put them on trial for genocide.
In a rare interview with NBC Nightly News, the 38-year-old civil rights lawyer said she is going after the leaders of ISIS and wants to try them in front of world leaders and diplomats over war crimes in the International Criminal Court.
Clooney is representing her client, Nadia Murad Basee Taha, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee who was sold as a sex slave to an ISIS commander when she was 19.
She said her 23-year-old client was at times raped by two men at once "until she fell unconscious".
"I can't imagine anything worse being done by one human to another," Clooney said.
She said she was taking on the case despite the possible risks to her life because "this is my job".
In answer to Host Cynthia McFadden's argument that many people think the terrorist organisation should be "bombed out of existence," Amal responded by saying; "You don't kill an idea that way".
"You can kill individuals, and that in itself can be used a propaganda for further recruitment," Clooney said. "ISIS can just be reformed under a different name. You need to change the narrative to change people's minds."
"They are brainwashing people, and I think one of the ways to take action against that is to expose their brutality and their corruption."
The interview featured a part of Clooney's speech to the United Nations last week, where she began her campaign to put ISIS commanders in prison with Murad by her side.
“I wish I could say that I was proud to be here, but I’m not,” the barrister said during her speech.
“I’m ashamed as a human being that we ignore their cries for help.”
Amal's efforts to make the world a better place doesn't go unnoticed by her famous husband.
"He (George) met Nadia too, and I think he was moved for the same reasons," Amal said.
"And he understood. I mean, this is my work."
The A-lister told ET that his wife is an "amazing human being".
"And she's caring. And she also happens to be one of the smartest people I've ever met. And she's got a great sense of humor."
On Friday, Murad became a UN goodwill ambassador for the dignity of survivors of human trafficking.
The Yazidi woman was taken from her home village of Kocho near Iraq's northern town of Sinjar in August 2014 and brought to IS-controlled Mosul, where she was gang-raped, and bought and sold many times.
"I was used in the way that they wanted to use me. I was not alone," Murad said during a ceremony held at UN headquarters.
"Perhaps I was the lucky one. As time passed, I found a way to escape where thousands others could not. They are still captive."
Murad said her hope was that one day, Yazidi victims will be able to look "our abusers in the eye before a court in The Hague and tell the world what they have done to us, so that our community can heal."
As a goodwill ambassador, Murad will focus on raising awareness of the plight of victims of trafficking of persons, especially refugees, women and girls.
Murad and Clooney are due to attend the United Nations this week for the annual General Assembly debate where they will launch a campaign to push for accountability for crimes committed by IS.
