They were the lucky ones. They left behind scores of classmates, Kurds from northern Syria, who remain captive – kidnapped by the extremists of Isis (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). Escape is not to be taken lightly: one Isis fighter warned them that anyone caught trying to leave would be beheaded. They asked us whether we wanted to join jihadis or not, to join Isis, Mustafa recalls. No one did. If the students were loud or chaotic, they were beaten with an electrical cable. Ten boys were beaten every day. But most of us were well behaved, to not get beaten. Some of the boys were crying, some turned yellow with fear. They showed us a documentary film from Iraq: of people being slaughtered. The kidnapping of 186 teenage boys in Syria on 30 May has gone largely unreported in the wider world, a curious omission given the outcry over the teenage girls in Nigeria. The abduction was no less sinister. The students needed to travel from the Kobani enclave on the Turkish border to Aleppo to take their exams – as required by Syrias education system. The journey is perilous but the students reached Aleppo without incident. On the way home however, a convoy of about 10 minibuses containing 186 boys aged 14-16 was stopped and taken to a religious school in Minbej, for training in the Quran and jihad. The vast majority are still there. theguardian/world/2014/jun/26/186-kurdish-students-kidnapped-isis-syria
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 14:27:40 +0000