- Title: Jailed Islamic State suspects recall path to jihad in Iraq
- Date: 29th November 2016
- Summary: ERBIL, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 28, 2016) (REUTERS) ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER, WALID ISMAIL, WALKING INTO HALL IN SECURITY COMPOUND ISMAIL TALKING TO REUTERS CORRESPONDENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER, WALID ISMAIL, SAYING: ''We loved them because they relieved us from the oppression of the Shi'ites who branded all the Sunnis as terrorists. We loved them because they rid us of them." CORRESPONDENT ASKING: "Who do you mean, the army?" WALID ISMAIL SAYING: "Yes." ISMAIL'S WOUNDED HAND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER, WALID ISMAIL, SAYING: "They said 'Whoever stays in his house is safe and whoever goes to the mosque is safe,' so we kept to our houses." CORRESPONDENT ASKING: "What did they tell you?" ISMAIL SAYING: "They said 'We are your Muslim brothers' and at Friday prayer they gathered us and told us to go to the mosque. We went to the mosque and they identified themselves to us, telling us 'We are your Muslim brothers. We are the Islamic State, is there is anyone who does not know us? We will not hurt you. We aim to rid you of the Shi'ites and no one will oppress you. We will give you food and money. Whatever you want.'" CORRESPONDENT'S NOTEBOOK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER, WALID ISMAIL, SAYING: "Daesh gave me 500,000 dinars (USD $400) per month to hold a machine gun and stand guard on a street. I went to the mosque and they told me to wait and then a mullah called Abu Mustapha told me to declare allegiance and then someone called Abu Ibrahim gave me a rifle and uniform and told me to stand guard in the street, saying this is my job." ISMAIL'S WOUNDED HAND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER, WALID ISMAIL, SAYING: "All our people supported them and believed that they were right, but in the end we became victims. We did not know who the leader of our army was." ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER, HAZEM SALEH, WALKING INTO ROOM AT SECURITY COMPOUND SALEH'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER, HAZEM SALEH, SAYING: "They (the Iraqi army) took my three brothers without reason." CORRESPONDENT ASKING: "What were they working as?" SALEH SAYING: "They were labourers. They detained them for about a month and a half. They beat them. They hung them upside down. They dislocated their shoulders." SALEH TALKING TO REUTERS CORRESPONDENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER, HAZEM SALEH, SAYING: "I have seven children, the youngest is two and the eldest is 14." CORRESPONDENT ASKING: "What did your wife say when she learned you were joining Islamic State?" SALEH SAYING: "She told me not to go with them. But I asked her if I don't join them how can we live? They (I.S.) closed my shop. They hurt me." CORRESPONDENT ASKING: "Who?" SALEH SAYING: "The Islamic State, Daesh. There was a lack of work and poverty so most people joined because of that. They threatened to make my 14-year-old son wage holy war in order to pressure me." SALEH'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER, HAZEM SALEH, SAYING: "Each group has a cook and I used to cook for them." CORRESPONDENT ASKING: "How many members in each group?” SALEH SAYING: "Each group has 12 fighters." SALEH WITH CORRESPONDENT
- Embargoed: 14th December 2016 15:40
- Keywords: Islamic State Mosul Bashiqa Erbil peshmerga Kurdistan Regional Security Council
- Location: BASHIQA, WEST OF MOSUL, AND ERBIL, IRAQ
- City: BASHIQA, WEST OF MOSUL, AND ERBIL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA0025AI10SN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: When Kurdish forces began firing rockets at a suspected Islamic State hideout in northern Iraq, one of those inside, former bakery worker Walid Ismail, said he tried to persuade the others to surrender.
Some wanted to hold hand grenades to their throats and pull the pins. In the end, a Tunisian militant among them detonated a suicide bomb, hoping to wipe out their attackers.
Instead he killed five of the group and injured the rest. Ismail said the others were then killed by the Kurds and only he made it out safely by shouting that he had no bombs.
On Tuesday (November 29), the 20-year-old sat with his ankles shackled in a security compound in the city of Erbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdish region, which is fighting alongside Baghdad to drive Islamic State from its stronghold in Mosul and nearby towns.
Ismail and another suspect described how Islamic State transformed them into jihadists through promises and threats and said unjust treatment of the Sunni community by the Shi'ite-led government and armed forces played a major role.
Their accounts, which could not be verified, show how vital it will be to manage sectarian tensions after any victory over Islamic State.
Ismail said Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had wide appeal when he walked into a Mosul mosque in broad daylight two years ago, and declared large parts of Iraq and Syria a caliphate, six years after al Qaeda was driven underground.
''We loved them because they relieved us from the oppression of the Shi'ites who branded all the Sunnis as terrorists. We loved them because they rid us of them," said Ismail.
"They gathered us and told us to go to the mosque. We went to the mosque and they identified themselves to us, telling us 'We are your Muslim brothers. We are the Islamic State, is there is anyone who does not know us? We will not hurt you. We aim to rid you of the Shi'ites and no one will oppress you. We will give you food and money. Whatever you want," he added.
In a separate interview, another prisoner suspected of fighting for Islamic State, Hazem Saleh, recalled how the Iraqi army had treated his three brothers in the months before Islamic State appeared on the scene.
"They were labourers. They detained them for about a month and a half. They beat them. They hung them upside down. They dislocated their shoulders," said the former Mosul blacksmith.
The Iraqi military and government, now under new leadership, deny such allegations and say they only went after terrorists.
Ismail said he was struggling to support six younger siblings when Islamic State or Daesh disabled the bakery that employed him by cutting off gas supplies, leaving him with few options.
"Daesh gave me 500,000 dinars (USD $400) per month to hold a machine gun and stand guard on a street," he said, using the derogatory Arabic acronym to describe I.S.
Like Ismail, Saleh said Islamic State applied financial pressure, forcing his shop to pay heavy taxes and then offering a handsome salary to entice him to take up the cause, but there was also a threat.
''They threatened to make my 14-year-old son wage holy war in order to pressure me," he said.
The two men face an uncertain future. With the battle for Mosul still going on, the makeshift detention centre is for people the Kurds, now in charge of the area, consider a major threat. If sufficient evidence is gathered, the men are likely to face trial. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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