ICC Note: After being rescued by Iraqi Security Forces, a mother and son have recounted their experience living under militant rule in Iraq. The boy, only 15 at the time, was tortured and beaten into converting to Islam and then sent to training camps to become a full member of ISIS. Meanwhile ISIS tortured his mother with long needles for refusing to study the Quran. After escaping for the second time, the two were rescued after years under ISIS rule.

01/06/2016 Iraq (Ankawa): A Christian mother and son in Iraq have told their story of survival after two years of terror living under Daesh (ISIS).

In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, widow Jandark Behnam Mansour Nassi, 55, and her son, 16-year-old Ismail, describe their experiences at the hands of Daesh extremists.

Ismail, who the militants jailed, recounts seeing gun-wielding Jihadi children kill orange-clad Daesh prisoners and how he witnessed a woman bound hand and foot being stoned to death. The teenager goes on to describe how Daesh threatened to kill him if he refused to convert to Islam. He recalls the pain of later converting to Islam against his will and how he went to a Daesh “correctional camp” where the Jihadi militants tried to force him to marry in spite of him being only 15 at the time.

When Daesh found the cross he was wearing round his neck, they beat him and he was hit again when he was unable to answer questions while being forced to study the Qur’an. Ismail’s mother was “stung with long needles” for her failure to study the Islamic sacred text.

The climax of their account comes after the two were abandoned by Daesh forces.

They tried to get away but were caught again. When they made a second bid for freedom, they came under Daesh sniper fire. They took cover in a house and when they appeared waving a white flag they were rescued by forces fighting Daesh.

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