I Introduction: Immediate deportation from “Islamic State territories” and not returning thereafter either in Iraq or Levant (Syria) in addition to pledging never to practice journalism again; these were the conditions that journalist Masoud Akeel had to agree to before a prisoner swap agreement was concluded between the Islamic State (ISIS) and the YPG units affiliated to the ‘self-government’ which led to his release after 280 days of detention in ISIS prisons.
The last sentence Masoud heard from an ISIS member before the swap was completed:
“Prisoners are swapped only once here. So if you happen to fall into custody again, you will be executed immediately because this would indicate that you have returned to “apostasy” which is tantamount to infidelity which entails punishment by death.”
Mosoud says summarizing his long experience in custody and his eventual survival:
“Survival from death in prison does not always mean life because survival crams the memory with harsh scenes, images of dead bodies and blood stains creating a heavier burden. I yearn to get rid of this legacy that is a mixture of the happiness of liberation from prison and the hope to be liberated from the shackles of this distorted memory. I would always pass my fingers on the walls and doors of the narrow cells to entrust them with my sighs… I would distract myself often by leaving those fingerprints.”
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