Chef, teacher with Daesh: SDF treatment with prisoners contrary to expectations

DILSOUZ DILDAR- HOGIR NAJJAR / AL-HASAKAH

The Syrian Democratic Forces released 17 detainees on charges of belonging to IS mercenaries on Monday, in a gesture of goodwill after ensuring that their hands were not stained with the blood of the Syrians. The ceremony was held in the presence of dignitaries from al-Hasakah canton, and representatives of the council of al-Hasakah, the families of the detainees and leaders of Syrian Democratic Forces.

On the sidelines of the release of these detainees, Hawar news agency met with two elements, one a chef and another a school teacher at former mercenaries' institutions.

From "Free Army" to Daesh then a chef

Osama Nasir al-Hamwi joined IS mercenaries in April 2015, saying that he was a member of the so-called "Free Army" in Hama province, but he points out that after the control of Daesh of their group, a lot of their group were punished, their leader had delivered them to join the ranks of the latter, because there is no support for them, he says.

After his joining al-Hamwi notes that during his stay in the kitchen of the mercenaries, all supplies were coming from areas controlled by the Syrian regime in "secret" ways.

Al-Hamwi says that the reason for his stay in the ranks of Daesh all this time is because of the difficulty of getting out of its control, where he is sentenced to punishment for those who want to escape.

Al-Hamwi was recently arrested along with his brother as part of "the Battle to defeat terrorism" launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces on September 11 to eliminate the last pocket where IS mercenaries were holed up east of the Euphrates River.

Al-Hamwi said "Although I was dealing with ISIS terrorists, I was surprised by the good treatment I saw here, which was quite the opposite of my perceptions, where Daesh told us that SDF are infidels, cruel, merciless, torturing, and killing everyone who falls in their hands and in this sense we were afraid to hand ourselves to them. "

At the end of his speech, al-Hamawi appealed to all his comrades who were tricked into the ranks of Daesh to surrender themselves and settle their situation.

He worked as a supervisor for 5 schools

Fawzi Shibo Mohammed, 47 years old, who joined IS mercenaries in June 2015 said "I was a school teacher, but my salary was suspended by the regime and I have no other source to live from as I am a breadwinner for a family of 16 people, and I had no choice but to provide a job opportunity, but to teach and when ISIS were controlling our regions."

"My job was to supervise five schools in the Education Bureau in the rural town of al-Mirkada in al-Shadadi district of al-Hasakah canton, where the regime's curriculum was being studied, but with the abolition of national education materials, drawing and music."

With the start of the Syrian Democratic Forces in al-Shadadi liberation campaign in February 2016, Mohammed went to the public relations center of Daesh, whose task is to hold reconciliation between tribes and others, as it claimed, before moving to the information office in al-Deshisha town.

He said he was earning $ 50 for himself and the same amount for his wife as well as $ 25 for each child in his family.

He said "In the beginning, we did not know much about Daesh, but after we became deeply involved, we learned about the injustice it is doing and its inhuman treatment of civilians, where injustice is not measured explicitly"

Muhammad notes that he stayed for a year and a half with Daesh, before he surrendered himself to the Syrian Democratic Forces at the end of 2016.

He stressed that the treatment of SDF was very good in all aspects, we did not hear any bad words or anything else, and we were surprised by this good treatment noting that when ISIS were captured someone, it was practicing the worst forms of torture and murder.

He called on all IS mercenaries to surrender themselves to SDF and return to their normal social lives.

H/S

ANHA