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Schoolchildren Describe Torture, Fear in IS Captivity: Amnesty Int'l

© Sputnik / Andrey Stenin / Go to the mediabankThe flag of the radical organization Islamic State.
The flag of the radical  organization Islamic State. - Sputnik International
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The children were tortured with electric shocks, hung from the ceiling by their wrists and intimidated by beating.

MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) — A group of 25 schoolchildren from the town of Kobani, Syria released late in October after spending some five months as hostages of Islamic State (IS) militants, have described the torture and fear they endured, Amnesty International's global human rights blog reported Friday.

"I wish no one ever falls into these people's hands. Some of the students used to faint from fear after watching the beatings they carried out to punish those of us who misbehaved or tried to run away, so you can imagine how brutal they were," a 15-year-old boy released from IS captivity, told Amnesty International.

The schoolchildren were the last of 150 captured boys to be released. The children were abducted in May as the IS stopped their bus on the way from Aleppo to Kobani. Later the children were sporadically released.

According to the children, IS militants made them attend daily "religious lessons" and adhere to strict rules. Any attempt to break these rules or escape was punished by beating. The militants used electric shocks, hosepipes and ropes to torture the children and hung them from ceiling by their wrists. However, the children continued trying to run away.

"We all believed we were never going to be released, so while it was terrifying to watch the beatings, it only took a few days to get over the fear and for a few of the boys to try to escape again," the boy said.

Earlier this week Human Rights Watch interviewed several children from the group revealing that they were made watch videos of beheadings and that those trying to escape were given less food than the others.

The Islamic State is a Sunni jihadi group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched an offensive in Iraq, seizing vast areas in both countries and announcing the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.

In October, al-Arabiya reported that the IS militant group is comparing itself to Disneyland stating that children want to join the IS as much as they want to go to the theme parks.

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