By FULVIO
SCAGLIONE
Mayadin is along the road that goes straight to Deir Ezzor (which has been under seige by Isis since two years ago) and to Raqqa, Al Baghdadi’s capitol city. Riad can therefore supply a first-hand account of what goes on in the heart of the Caliphate, where he has left behind his mother, two elder brothers, and a bevy of cousins.“I couldn’t stand it anymore”, says Riad. “With those guys anything can happen to you at any time of the day. I’ve always tried to be prudent but nonetheless I had to submit to two periods of a month each in the re-education camps.
They
start out by indoctrinating you for days on end. Their favorite
subjects were: why Egypt, Syria, Italy, the US and many many other
countries are full of infidels; why it is lawful to burn certain
people alive, such as the Jordanian pilot or the two Turkish pilots;
why it is right to cut other people’s throats; why it is a duty to
prevent people from leaving the places where Muslims live in order to
get to those inhabited by infidels. We were fed constant quotations
from Ibn Taimiya (a jurisconsult of Medieval Islam,
rediscovered by Wahhabis and the Salafis and known for
having issued a fatwa which allows jihad against other Muslims), the
same things got repeated over and over for hours”.
In
other words, religion lessons…
“No.
The real purpose gets revealed later. In these camps there were about
three or four hundred men, who were then transferred to Deir Ezzor
and forced to dig trenches and tunnels in the airport, which is
partly occupied by Isis. In other words, it was forced labor for the
jihad. When they finished with one group they brought in another one.
There was no way of rebelling, a mere trifle could get you killed”.
So
how come you ended up in this camp?
“I
was detained because my jellaba (the traditional islamic tunic) was
too short at the ankles. Clearly an excuse”.
Is
it really so dangerous to live under the Isis militia?
“Of
course it is. Between what has happened to friends and acquaintances
of mine and what I have been told by others, I have dozens of stories
that make one’s hair stand on end. For example, I know about a boy
who had decided to enlist with the Islamic State. His father did
everything in his power to stop him, he insulted him, they quarreled.
So the boy denounced his father, who was promptly executed, in
public. A
friend of mine instead quarreled with a Saudi militiaman. They
came to get him, they tortured him, they killed him and then they
exhibited his body in the public square. They put a sign on the body
that read: “He insulted a fighter for islam”. And so on and so
forth.
Doesn’t
sound like enlisting is a good idea.
“Actually,
it depends. If it’s a Syrian who is enlisting, his salary will be
100 dollars a month. But those who come from abroad, Tunisians,
Turks, Saudis and Europeans, get much more, not less than 500
dollars. In any case, it’s a lot of money for the standard of
living of those places. And there’s also a big
difference in how they treat you. Syrians and Iraqis run a lot more
risks, because they are almost always sent to the front lines, to
fight. In the positions of command and in the administration are
almost always taken by foreigners, who are therefore a lot less at
risk. It’s a system that allows them not to lose control of the
situation, in order not to be betrayed”.
And
who keeps tabs on you, ordinary people?
“There
are two police forces. The first one is called “Security”, which
deals with mores: misdemeanors such as wearing jeans,
wearing your beard too short. As I said, they are principally to rake
up men to oblige to work for free. The Security is
constantly checking on people even in the two internet
points in town. If they catch you looking at any anti-Isis websites
or pornographic websites, there’s the death penalty. If you have
songs downloaded in your cell phone you get 40 lashes. If
a woman’s eyes are excessively uncovered, she is fined 2 grams of
gold. Then there is the actual police, which is supposed to deal with
criminals and which doesn’t count at all”.
But
does the town work? Trade,
manufacturing …
“Our
area, like that of Deir Ezzor, lives on oil. And
Isis does too, as it traded it with Turkey”.
Traded? Why
do you speak in the past?
“Yes
because first the Turks left the border between the cities of Tall
Abyad and Jarablus (in Syria) which was where all the trading went
on: oil in exchange for money, arms, ammunition. But since
Russia and Turkey have came to an agreement, that border has been
sealed and therefore it is much more difficult to trade in oil. In
the last few years Isis has continued to extract oil but with more
and more rudimental means. Pollution, which was already heavy, has
increased greatly. I’m convinced that it is for this reason that
there are so many more cases of cancer: from 40 cases a month in 2014
to 180 a month today. I know because I work part time in a lab and
the sick now almost all end up at the hospital in Mayadin which,
among the ones still under Isis, is the most efficient”.
Well,
if the oil bonanza is over, where does Isis get its money?
“Well,
in the last two years they managed to accumulate a lot. For example,
they gave the grave robbers leave to dig wherever they liked, and
accordingly they have looted the archeological sites. The deal is:
you get a third of the value, two thirds go to Isis. If you try and
go it alone, you get the death penalty. And then, of course, there is
also some trading because the merchants are allowed to come and go
from Syria to procure their goods. This way Isis makes a
profit twice: with the kickbacks and with taxes. In this case too I
know what I’m talking about because one of my brothers has a shop
and it is he who ultimately supports the whole family.
What
about your other brother?
“He
used to be a journalist but now he’s a taxi-driver on a motorbike”.
In
your opinion, how has Isis managed to resist for so long?
“Because
it gets help”.
From
whom?
“All
of us, there, are convinced that it’s the Americans. Almost every
day we hear helicopters flying over our heads and then we see loads
of supplies coming into town. So who can it be, in that region, who
can fly about freely, if not the Americans?
Well,
what do you think: will Isis eventually be defeated?
“Yes.
I hope by the end of this year”.(traduzione in inglese di Alessandra Nucci )
http://www.occhidellaguerra.it/cosi-si-viveva-lisis/
