The Hadba Youth and Sports Club Prison

The prison was located in the building of the Hadba Youth and Sports Club in the Muthanna neighborhood of Mosul. Built in 1970, it was considered an important sports organization in the city. One and a half years after capturing Mosul in 2014, ISIS converted the spacious club into a prison, by order of the ISIS mufti, Abu Ayyoub al-Attar. Detainees in this prison faced charges of spying for the Iraqi security forces, trying to flee from ISIS territories, and insulting the caliph and the caliphate. According to former detainees interviewed by the IPM, ISIS punished those charged with insulting its leaders by burning their tongues with a heated piece of iron. An elderly man and his three sons were among those who received this punishment for insulting Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS at the time. According to witnesses, detainees were blindfolded and their hands were tied behind their backs before being taken to interrogation. Once they reached the interrogation room, they were ordered to kneel. The main name associated with this prison is Abu Ayyoub al-Attar, who was the prison judge. He was accompanied by a group of jailers, most of whom were his students. After the defeat of ISIS in 2017, the building was restored for use as a sports and youth club.