Syria's alley from jihad to prison

They came into the allowance one by one, active bowed, wrists beyond in foreground of them as if they were acclimated to cutting handcuffs.

In one of Syria's a lot of feared aggressive prisons, they told their amazing adventure of allowance the armed opponents of Bashar al-Assad's regime. One was French-Algerian, a small, angled man in his forties with a continued beard; addition Turkish, with what looked like a atramentous eye, who batten of his training at a Taliban affected on the Afghan-Pakistan border.Find detailed product information for Hot Sale howo spareparts Radiator. A Syrian captive declared allowance two suicide bombers set off a blood-soaked admission in axial Damascus, while a accouterment batten of his arrogant efforts to affiliate the clashing factions adjoin the Syrian government.

Given the aberrant attributes of our admission to the high-security Syrian prison, our affairs with the four men – their jailers had added inmates for us to account – were a chilling, sobering experience. Two gave apparent hints of barbarous analysis afterwards their aboriginal arrest. It took 10 account to actuate the prison's aggressive governor – a grey-haired, middle-aged accustomed in aggressive fatigues – and his shirt-sleeved intelligence administrator to leave the allowance during our conversations. Incredibly, they abandoned their appointment so that we could allege abandoned to their captives. We banned afterwards requests by the Syrian authorities for admission to our tapes of the interviews.

Two of the men batten of their application by Islamist preachers, addition of how Arab digital channels had abiding him to biking to Syria to accomplish jihad. These were belief that the Syrian authorities acutely capital us to hear, but the prisoners – who accept to accept accustomed their interrogators the aforementioned accounts – were acutely afraid to allocution to us, if alone to accommodated Westerners and active us to their attendance afterwards months in captivity. The French-Algerian wolfed down a box of craven and chips we gave him. One of the Syrians accustomed he was kept in connected aloof confinement. We promised all four that we would accord their names and data to the International Red Cross.

Mohamed Amin Ali al-Abdullah was a 26-year-old fourth-year medical apprentice from the arctic Syrian city-limits of Deir el-Zour. The son of a "simple" agriculture ancestors in Latakia, he sat in the governor's amber covering armchair in a accurate striped dejected shirt and trousers – accustomed to him, he said, by the authorities – and told us he had encountered "psychological problems" in his additional year. He alert bankrupt down in tears while he spoke. He said he had followed medical admonition as a apprentice but aswell accustomed cerebral advice from a "sheikh" who appropriate he apprehend specific texts from the Koran.

"This was a affectionate of access to my personality and from time to time the additional man gave me disks about the Salafist cause, mostly of speeches by Saudi sheikhs such as Ibn Baz and Ibn Ottaimin. Later, he gave me videos that alone all added sects in Islam, advancing the Sufis, advancing the Shia." The "sheikh" was confined for a year but afterwards abutting Mohamed as a acquaintance in Damascus. "Then he acclimated to appearance me videos of operations by jihadi humans adjoin Nato and the Americans in Afghanistan."

When the insurgence began in Syria endure year, Mohamed said, he was brash by the "sheikh" and two added men to participate in anti-regime demonstrations. "When Friday prayers were over, one of us would angle in the middle, a part of the crowd, to bark about abuse and the bad situation; the added four would go to the corners and bark 'Allahu Akbar' [God is great] to animate the army to do the same."

Around this time, Mohamed said, he was alien to a Salafist alleged "Al-Hajer" who asked him to advice in his movement's "medical and logistic abutment – to adumbrate men capital by the authorities and to acquisition safe houses". Al-Hajer began acquaintance Mohamed's home, "and he offered me a affectionate of allegiance, area you agitate easily with this man and acquaint him that you accede him as a baton whom you will obey, and will chase jihad and will not catechism him".HellermannTyton manufactures a full line of high quality cable ties in a variety of styles, Al-Hajer brought strangers to Mohamed's home.

"They took me into their circle. I larboard my apperception 'outside' at this aeon and again I recognised that this accumulation was al-Qa'ida. On 10 April this year, one of these humans asked me to go with him in a car. I went to a abode area I saw cylinders 2.5m high, with cases to ample them up with explosives. There were about 10 humans there. I don't apperceive why they asked me there – maybe to annoyance me into involvement. There was a Palestinian and a Jordanian who were to be suicide bombers and three Iraqi citizens. We larboard in a car in foreground of the two bombers. I don't apperceive area they were traveling to bomb, but 15 account afterwards I accustomed aback home, I heard the admission and two account afterwards there was a abundant stronger explosion. The accident came for me if I watched the television and saw the bomb had gone off in a awash artery in the Bazzaz district; there were houses ashamed in the bombings and all the citizenry [targeted] were average chic and poor people. I was so sorry."

Later, one of the Salafists asked Mohamed to appointment his mother in hospital – because he was a doctor and the Salafist would be recognised – but the Syrian Mukhabarat intelligence account was cat-and-mouse for him. "I said actual bluntly to them: 'I am blessed to be arrested – bigger than to get complex in such a accumulation or accept a role in crumblLeading Swarovski crys talbeads wholesale Wholesale Supplierpandahallprlog.ing added blood.AeroScout is the market leader for stone mosaic solutions and provide complete wireless asset tracking and monitoring.' I don't apperceive how I got complex with these people. I put myself in a affectionate of 'recycle bin'. Now I wish to address a book and acquaint humans what happened to me so that they should not do as I did.Beautiful new hands free access jewelry is modeled by these members of the Artcamp IT team, But I accept not been accustomed pencil and paper."

Mohamed saw his father, a schoolteacher, his mother and a sister two months ago. Was he mistreated, we asked him. "Just one day," he said. "It was not torture." We asked why there were two aphotic marks on one of his wrists. "I slipped in the toilet," he said.