“WE WERE PROMISED 72 VIRGINS IN HEAVEN AND WOMEN ON EARTH AS WELL” SAYS
SURRENDERED ISLAMIC STATE MILITANT
Islamic State (IS) member “Sherko Omer” would
now be a dead jihadist had he not surrendered to the pro-Kurdish People’s
Protection Units (YPG) in northeast Syria earlier this year. Journalist Rozh
Ahmad met him to learn more about the experience. The interview has been made
available to THE CITIZEN by Kurdish Information.
In this interview published by Your Middle East, “Omer” explains
how he left his hometown in Iraqi Kurdistan to join the Syrian opposition and
eventually became an IS member, what he witnessed and the reasons for which he
risked his life to exit the extremist Islamic organisation.
Why and how did you join the Islamic State
(IS) in Syria?
Two friends and I decided
to leave Iraqi Kurdistan to join the Syrian opposition and its fight against
the regime. In October 2013 we got contacts from several people close to the
Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) in my hometown, Halabja. We were told that the
contacts were members of the Free Syria Army (FSA). We met the contacts in
Turkey and they took us to a hotel for few days. Afterward, they took us to a
training camp on the Turkey-Syria border and we found ourselves at an ISIS (or
IS) camp instead of FSA.
But how is it possible that you weren’t aware
your contacts were IS jihadists?
Well, we spoke with them in standard Arabic but they did not mention anything about IS until we were at the training camp. They talked against the regime as a machinery killing its own Muslim people and we had already heard that from FSA on TV. Moreover, they had no beards, dressed in modern clothes and even took us to a hotel in the Turkish city of Kilis. We therefore assumed that they were FSA not IS, as did many others who came to Turkey to join the Syrian opposition but joined us at the IS camp.
Well, we spoke with them in standard Arabic but they did not mention anything about IS until we were at the training camp. They talked against the regime as a machinery killing its own Muslim people and we had already heard that from FSA on TV. Moreover, they had no beards, dressed in modern clothes and even took us to a hotel in the Turkish city of Kilis. We therefore assumed that they were FSA not IS, as did many others who came to Turkey to join the Syrian opposition but joined us at the IS camp.
Is it true that IS trains new recruits for
beheadings on dead bodies at the camps?
Not true for the camp I was at, where beheading training was practiced with chickens and other animals. I did not do it because when we arrived they asked for my skills and qualifications and because I am a technical professional and I had qualifications, I was assigned to technical works and trained with pistols and lightweight weapons. This is because my main duty was to learn the communication equipment, interception of enemy phone and radio lines as well as rescuing digital gadgets and archives during attacks. I never engaged in a fire fight and this was the precise reason why Kurdish YPG fighters agreed to hand me back to my family after months of investigations.
Not true for the camp I was at, where beheading training was practiced with chickens and other animals. I did not do it because when we arrived they asked for my skills and qualifications and because I am a technical professional and I had qualifications, I was assigned to technical works and trained with pistols and lightweight weapons. This is because my main duty was to learn the communication equipment, interception of enemy phone and radio lines as well as rescuing digital gadgets and archives during attacks. I never engaged in a fire fight and this was the precise reason why Kurdish YPG fighters agreed to hand me back to my family after months of investigations.
How did IS members treat you as a new
recruit? IS commanders were very
nice and respectful at the camp. You would think you knew them for many years.
They gave us the best food; clothes, weapons and we enjoyed the friendship and
brotherhood. In reality we knew deep inside there was a choice to leave, but
(we started) to think of ourselves as fighters taking this brotherhood and
luxury to Syria and we were told that we had secured a place in heaven too,
that was very comforting. But beside these facts, to be honest staying also
felt like a moral obligation since they spent money, gave us food, clothes,
cars and respected us so much that leaving the camp felt like betraying the good
deeds of those people.
What about the promise of virgin Angels in
Heaven, is there any truths to this?
Yes, of course. We were told that as martyrs we would have 72 eternal virgins in heaven and we can save dozens of our close relatives from hell too.
So, IS promises its’ recruits 72 virgin angels and you are saying this is not “anti-Islamic propaganda” as some people may otherwise claim?
We were promised women in heaven and on earth too based on IS jihadist teaching of the verses of some Suras of the holy book of Quran and hadiths by prophet Muhammad, all of which were explained through the Tafsir (explanation) by Islamic scholars like Ibn Majah, Bukhari and Ibn Kathir. We were told all non-Muslim women prisoners will be our wives and God wills it.
Yes, of course. We were told that as martyrs we would have 72 eternal virgins in heaven and we can save dozens of our close relatives from hell too.
So, IS promises its’ recruits 72 virgin angels and you are saying this is not “anti-Islamic propaganda” as some people may otherwise claim?
We were promised women in heaven and on earth too based on IS jihadist teaching of the verses of some Suras of the holy book of Quran and hadiths by prophet Muhammad, all of which were explained through the Tafsir (explanation) by Islamic scholars like Ibn Majah, Bukhari and Ibn Kathir. We were told all non-Muslim women prisoners will be our wives and God wills it.
In Islamic holy war you cannot kill enemy women and children under
any circumstances, they can only be taken as prisoners. It is permissible to
have sexual intercourse with the captive women even if jihadists are married.
You can buy and sell these women but for the children you have to raise them as
home workers or teach them to become jihadists. I did none of these things
because I was a communication technician not in the battlefield. And, who would
claim otherwise when IS openly and proudly say they are carrying out these acts
as implementation of Islamic Sharia.
Nonetheless, there are Muslim women who willingly offer their
bodies for IS jihadists and this is called “Sex for Jihad” and they too will be
compensated in heaven according to IS. However, these women were mostly with
the commanders, I did not see average jihadist fighters with these Muslim
women.
And everyone believed in this at the camp?
The consequences of disbelieving were not clear in an environment
where they practice beheading. Nonetheless, many IS jihadist fighters truly
believed all this but foreign recruits had no clue as to what the verses of
holy Quran actually meant. I saw many foreign recruits who were put in the
suicide squads not because they were “great and God wanted it” as IS commanders
praised them in front of us, but basically because they were useless for IS,
they spoke no Arabic, they weren’t good fighters and had no professional
skills. They were brainwashed into the “women in heaven” and those they could
rape on earth before they eventually killed themselves. I am alive partly
thanks to my qualifications.
You have to remember that IS has been portrayed as an organisation
of gangs only, although this is evident what they do, but the political
leadership pay unbelievable attention to education and educated recruits. But
at the end of the day good moral values are based on the way education and
intelligence are being used.
So IS jihadists could just take women prisoners and sleep with them against their will, which the world considers rape?
So IS jihadists could just take women prisoners and sleep with them against their will, which the world considers rape?
Not only I say this but the IS emirs and commanders openly and
proudly says it too. They believe it is permissible to sleep with women
prisoners even against their will if they are infidels, non-Muslims and
apostate women. This happened to Christian women in Al-Raqqa after their
husbands were publicly beheaded and I witnessed it. Now it is happening to
Kurdish Yezidi women of Sinjar in Iraqi Kurdistan.
What did you witness in Al-Raqqa?
What did you witness in Al-Raqqa?
After training, my two Kurdish friends left to A’zaz where they
have been confirmed killed now, but I was assigned to work as a technician in
Al-Raqqa in the communications department. I was once told to go to a house to
test some equipment to see if they can be useful for the technical and communication
bureau. Once inside I realised it was a Christian home.
I saw six jihadists demanding that a Christian women and her
daughter become their wives. The daughter was about 12-13-years-old. I told the
jihadists forcing women is forbidden in Islam and children can’t be touched
under any circumstances. They loaded their guns in my face and told me to
leave. I immediately left to the local court that was based in a small house,
but the judge was worse, he said I was wrong because 13-year-old girl is not
considered a child, essentially because prophet Muhammad married his wife,
Aisha, when she was only 9 years old. He accused me of having poor faith in the
practices of prophet Muhammad for which I could have been detained and possibly
punished with tough sentences, but my field commander soon arrived and saved
me.
This was the reason that made you leave IS?
I wanted to leave first week into my post in Al-Raqqa but I was a
coward, scared of getting beheaded and did not know my way out. Unlike at the
camp, IS jihadists acted as God in Al-Raqqa. They were rude, arrested and
killed anybody for no real reason.
I decided to risk my life to escape after I witnessed a wounded captured Kurdish YPG fighter publicly beheaded. He was about my age, but unlike me he was extremely brave. He spat on every jihadist around him. He shouted slogans about Kurdish freedom and Abdullah Ocalan. I had never seen anyone so brave in my life. His fingers were cut yet he shouted insults against the jihadists. He was finally beheaded from behind to suffer and salt was put on his half-cult neck to die in agony but he did not give up until he painfully died this way. Children too were present at the public execution. However, I felt very sick afterward and did not sleep for a week thinking I am either going to runaway or kill myself, but thank God the chance came soon afterward in the city of Serekaniye.
I decided to risk my life to escape after I witnessed a wounded captured Kurdish YPG fighter publicly beheaded. He was about my age, but unlike me he was extremely brave. He spat on every jihadist around him. He shouted slogans about Kurdish freedom and Abdullah Ocalan. I had never seen anyone so brave in my life. His fingers were cut yet he shouted insults against the jihadists. He was finally beheaded from behind to suffer and salt was put on his half-cult neck to die in agony but he did not give up until he painfully died this way. Children too were present at the public execution. However, I felt very sick afterward and did not sleep for a week thinking I am either going to runaway or kill myself, but thank God the chance came soon afterward in the city of Serekaniye.
How and why did you end up in Serekaniye (Ras
Al-Ain) because I am not sure if it is possible to travel from Al-Raqqa to the
Kurdish region these days?
My commander said Kurdish YPG was an infidel secularist army and impure, arguing that each jihadist has the duty to first purify his own people and if we were all pure then infidels would not exit. The commander and others too gave me examples of Palestine and Israel as well as Kosovo and Serbs. They told me jihadists should first fight impure Muslims of Palestine and Kosovo to purify them and this way Israelis and Serbs would not exist. This was argued against my Kurdish people too. I joined a new battalion; we went back to Turkey and crossed the Turkish border to enter Serekaniye.
And what about the Ceylanpinar Turkish border post that is heavily controlled by Turkish soldiers?
My commander said Kurdish YPG was an infidel secularist army and impure, arguing that each jihadist has the duty to first purify his own people and if we were all pure then infidels would not exit. The commander and others too gave me examples of Palestine and Israel as well as Kosovo and Serbs. They told me jihadists should first fight impure Muslims of Palestine and Kosovo to purify them and this way Israelis and Serbs would not exist. This was argued against my Kurdish people too. I joined a new battalion; we went back to Turkey and crossed the Turkish border to enter Serekaniye.
And what about the Ceylanpinar Turkish border post that is heavily controlled by Turkish soldiers?
They just turned a blind eye.
How?
We were initially told by the IS field commander to fear nothing
because there was cooperation with the Turks at the border. The watchtower light
caught us and our commander said everybody should stop but do not look at the
light. He talked on the radio, then the watchtower light began to move after
8-10 minutes and that was the signal saying we could safely cross the border.
When and how did you finally escape IS in
Serekaniye?
I was sent to fix radios, communication equipment and help resolve
technical issues of a small base north of Serekaniye end of February 2014. I
joined a new battalion for this because IS planned to regroup northeast Syria
to attack the YPG. I fixed all the faulty equipment after I arrived in
Serekaniye, but then they asked me to intercept and interpret YPG radio
communications. YPG members spoke Kurmanji Kurdish and I spoke Sorani Kurdish,
but I could’ve tried harder to accurately intercept and interpret YPG radios
and track their next moves, but when I heard female fighters speaking in
Kurdish over the radio I just couldn’t do it.
Nearly a week passed at the base and it was the YPG that attacked
our campsite. I was lucky because I was at the last outpost faraway when YPG
first attacked and I immediately surrendered after YPG sniper killed the two
jihadists beside me. I shouted in Kurdish, they told me to go closer and get
naked and after it was clear that I had no suicide belt, they accepted my
surrender. It is true that I have physically escaped now thanks to God and
thanks to the YPG, but Al-Raqqa is mentally haunting me now because what I have
witnessed is just pure horror.
(“Sherko Omer” is a pseudonym. His real identity has been kept secret for security reasons. The views expressed are his own.)
(“Sherko Omer” is a pseudonym. His real identity has been kept secret for security reasons. The views expressed are his own.)
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