Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
B4vxvtyCUAAURkI
jihadist - Credit: Picture: Twitter/@inhuggermugger
al-Nusra Front
Assad regime
asylum seekers
ISIS
Islamic state
Jabhat-al Nusra
Lex Runderkamp
Mustafa
refugees
Syria
terrorist organization
Thursday, 3 December 2015 - 09:35
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Refugee speaks out on life under al-Qaeda, ISIS brainwashing

Former Al-Nusra fighter and Syrian media activist Mustafa saw his friends being brainwashed by terrorist organization ISIS. He joined Al-Nusra in the past, because it was his best option in Syria. He fled the country when his friends tried to force him to join a terrorist organization. The young Syrian man told his story to NOS reporter Lex Rudenkamp under the pseudenom Mustafa from an asylum center somewhere in the Netherlands, the broadcaster reports. He hid his connection with Al-Nustra from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and does not regret doing so. Mustafa believes that in the fight against the Syrian regime of president Assad, the Al-Nusra Front is the only group that has any decency. He first joined the Free Syrian Army, but according to him the army is weak and corrupt. "In the West we have every reason to put Jahbat al-Nusra on the list of terrorist organizations, but in Syria this organization has a lot of support from Syrians", Runderkamp explains. "Al-Nusra is indeed religiously very fanatic, but also at war with ISIS over the power in Syria." Mustafa no longer recognizes his friends who chose to join ISIS. He suspects that they were brainwashed. "They showed me pictures on their mobile phones of atrocities, massacres. I fled to Turkey when they forced me to choose for ISIS or Jabhat al-Nusra", he said to the NOS reporter. Mustafa traveled to the Netherlands via the "classical route" - across the ocean and through other countries. "I did not see any ISIS-combatants on the way to the Netherlands or in the Dutch shelters", he said, adding that he does not expect any to come in the future either. "ISIS has enough money to travel in a different way."

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Eredivisie: PSV and Ajax win comfortably
  • Ter Apel asylum seekers spend another night outdoors, COA unable to find beds
  • Community service for rioters at Zwolle farmers’ protest
  • Solar panel waiting time stretches to six months; Heat pump delays rising
  • Dutch holidaymakers see more fatal accidents this year
  • Camil A., convicted in quadruple murder, dies in prison

Top stories

  • Officially warmest August 14 since measurements began
  • NS on track for record year of delays, malfunctions; Plans underway for faster Airport Sprinter
  • Dutch publisher to reprint Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses'
  • Body of missing Overveen swimmer found; Man dies while swimming in in Haringvliet
  • Netherlands sees first official heat wave in two years, municipalities unprepared
  • Body found in water in Venlo, police investigate cause of death

© 2012-2022, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content