Massoud Aqeel and Farhad Hamo, from Qamishlo, were two freelance journalists covering the war with the Islamic State in northern Syria for Rudaw.
On December 14, 2014, they were picked up by members of the Islamic State at the Heso-Ratla junction on the main highway connecting Qamishlo to Tel Kocher.
Massoud Aqeel was released nine months later, in September 2015, in a prisoner exchange. Farhad Hamo was released the following month, in October 2015.
This is Aqeel’s account of his nine months in Islamic State captivity – filth, cold, interrogation, solitary confinement, torture, and the constant fear of being executed.
“We were always thinking about when and in what way they would kill us. How they would kill us and film us while dying. That was always on our mind. Those thoughts never left us.”
