Chilling images show everyday lives of ISIS fighters locked up in Syrian prison
BLEAK photographs provide an insight into the lives of over one thousand ISIS fighters who have been locked up in a Syrian prison.
Prisoners remain in filthy prison camps in northeastern Syria, nearly a year after the final defeat of Islamic State – to which they once belonged.
Men, women and children living in the camps say their life is in a state of ‘limbo’ as they wait to know their fate.
The area around Qamishli city is mainly controlled by Kurdish fighters who helped defeat the Islamist militant group. They have since been pushed into a small pocket of northeastern Syria by Turkish-led forces who consider them a security threat.
But Kurdish forces, who have been lumbered with murderous Islamic State prisoners, are now deciding what to do with them.
Kurdish officials have said they will be holding trials for IS fighters from more than 50 countries – including about 30 from the UK.
Many European countries, for example, have hesitated to repatriate nationals, fearing a public backlash if they do.
Roughly 10,000 of the IS fighters are Europeans.
Kurdish officials say they lack the resources to properly detain, investigate and prosecute the large number of prisoners as well as their families in camps.
UNCERTAIN FATE
“We want to know what our fate is,” said Mahmoud Mohammad, an IS fighter from Syria held by Kurdish forces in a prison near the town of Hasaka, south of Qamishli.
“We don’t know anything about our families.
“We don’t know if they’re alive or dead, in Syria or outside. I want to know my sentence and my fate.”
“I worked with (Islamic State) as a civilian,” said Abdurrahman Mustafa al-Jomaa, a 32-year-old Syrian from Raqqa, who was being held at the central Hasaka jail.
“My sentence is 2 years. I’m married and have two children. My family is in Raqqa and they come and visit me.”
Prisoners would be lined head-to-toe in their cells, with more than 50 men per room.
In a hospital on the ground floor, about 100 men crowded on to around half the number of beds suffering from illnesses and injuries. Several were in orange jumpsuits, similar to those often worn by IS captives before they were executed.
Beyond the prisons, thousands of mostly woman and children are detained in camps in the area.
One woman, who spoke in broken English said that she was originally from Hong Kong before coming to the Middle East to join Islamic State.
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“I have one child and my husband died in Baghouz,” she said.
The woman said she was in touch with her family in Hong Kong but did not want to return.
“I know here the situation is very difficult. This is not home, it’s just a tent … but we all live to (the wishes of) Allah, so God-willing, all is good.”