Battar Battalion Prison

In 2014, the ISIS Battar Battalion seized a house that belonged to a family from the Shaitat clan in Kishkiyya, Deir ez-Zor, and converted it into a prison. The prison was mainly used to detain members of the tribe who were aged over 11.

At a later point, the administration of the prison was handed over to Iraqi, Aleppan, and local jailers. The two-story house is located in the Hawi area of Kishkiyya. The owner was an anti-ISIS fighter who had fled the area after being injured in battle.

The Battar Battalion was made up of Libyan and Moroccan fighters who became notorious for their ferocity. The battalion moved between towns to carry out special operations for ISIS. It played a crucial role in the fighting against the Shaitat clan, and in the massacre of clansmen.

To document this site, the ISIS Prisons Museum (IPM) took the testimonies of three men who had been detained here in 2014 and 2015. The testimonies were cross-referenced against an architectural analysis and forensic evidence found in the building.

The ground floor contained two detention cells, an investigation room, a torture room, an external solitary cell, and a storeroom for weapons and ammunition. The first floor was used by ISIS members for recreation.

Interrogations in the prison were accompanied by beating and insults, and aimed to identify who had joined the Shaitat fighters in their battle against ISIS. Detainees who had been confirmed as fighters were executed large numbers. The executions were carried out at a spot 100 meters from the prison, and in other areas of the town.

Since the prison was in a volatile area where fighting was ongoing, ISIS did not make many changes to the building. It just added tools for torture and fixtures for hanging detainees by their limbs. The house was in an isolated area under complete ISIS control. Any escape attempt would have been doomed.

According to the information available, the house remained under ISIS control until the organization was expelled from the Shaitat areas in 2018. Later, the owners returned and turned it into a warehouse for storing wheat and other cereals.