Faris Marwan Ali al-Hayawi

Faris Marwan Ali al-Hayawi was working with his father selling gas cylinders when ISIS seized control of Mosul. ISIS members arrested him alongside his brother and many of their neighbors on the (false) charge of being Shia Muslims. With ISIS members forcing their heads down and each having to hold onto the other’s shoulders, they were taken to the Ahdath Prison. The guards then left them in the corridor so that they could be registered. All the while, they were insulted and cursed at before being taken to a group cell.

Faris describes the group cell, saying that more than 200 prisoners were crammed into a 25-by-five or -six-meter space. He says that most of the prisoners did not make it out alive. He confirms that there were cells designated for female prisoners. There were surveillance cameras and informants in the prison, so he and his group were cautious about talking to anybody. 

Faris details the interrogation procedure, which was nearly the same for all those who had been arrested with him. On the third day of their imprisonment, they were summoned to the investigation room blindfolded and with their heads covered with a bag. There was no specific charge brought against them. Faris thinks that since they had previously worked in the petrol trade, some of their rivals might have joined ISIS and fabricated charges against them. Since ISIS could not prove any of those accusations, they accused them of being Shia instead. In the investigation room, Faris says he was brought to kneel before two jailers and a judge from the Uqaydat tribe. The questions were random. Faris was asked about things he had not done and that had never happened. The judge seemed to be improvising. When Faris did not answer the questions, the torture started. He was smacked and whipped on his back with cables and metal chains until he was knocked unconscious. This was all in the summer heat.

Faris lists the methods of torture ISIS used. The jailers would fire bullets into the air, or blanks, acting as if they had executed someone. Then they would tell other inmates they had killed certain prisoners who had had the same charge brought against them, implying that they would be next. Jailers tortured them in many ways, Faris recalls, and the traces of his torture remain visible until today. They flogged prisoners with metal chains, cables, and straps, suspended prisoners from the ceiling with their hands behind their back, and administered electric shocks.

The prison had three bathrooms and three toilets. Even though there was a lack of cleaning products, Faris did not notice any infections among the prisoners. Prisoners had bread and a single piece of cheese for breakfast, while for lunch and dinner they were given the jailers’ leftovers and some broth. 

The jailers, Faris says, wore a black Kandahari (Afghan) costume or a khaki military suit. They looked terrifying, armed with swords, daggers, and knives. Their faces were hidden behind masks.

Faris recounts some distressing incidents he witnessed. One prisoner managed to lock himself inside his solitary cell. When he refused to open it, the jailers shot at him and threw a grenade inside. He was killed. In another incident, ISIS brought whole families from Tal Afar, saying they were Shia. They killed the men and women but kept the children so that they could be converted and recruited into ISIS. Faris heard an ISIS member telling a Shia father, “Your offspring will kill you and your uncles and families.” Another of Faris’s painful memories concerns when he witnessed a young Shia man shot for invoking God’s curses upon ISIS as he was being tortured.

Visits were completely prohibited, Faris says. His mother came to the prison, telling the jailers that she had followed them and that she knew Faris and some others were there. ISIS completely denied it.

Faris recounts that the ISIS members were afraid of airstrikes. They would evacuate the prison and leave the prisoners alone when Global Coalition fighter jets were overhead. When the prison was targeted, another group cell was directly hit, killing most of its 200 prisoners and some jailers. Many remained under the rubble. Among them were members of the Iraqi Police and Army, and some children belonging to the Shabak community, a Shia ethno-religious group. Faris explains that they were unable to flee the bombing as the gates were tightly locked.

After the airstrike, the inmates were transferred to the Dar al-Diyafa Prison, and from there to the Qaimaqamiyaiya Prison, where the treatment was better. From there they were released, probably due to the amnesty issued by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. However, the amnesty did not extend to all prisoners; ISIS held on to members of the Iraqi military and Police Force, as well as some Shia prisoners.

Regarding his release, Faris says that ISIS members threw him into the street, removed his blindfold, and warned him to keep walking and not look back for ten minutes, otherwise he would be shot.

Finally, Faris describes the psychological effects of his experience, saying that he has become afraid of people and has lost his trust in them. Sometimes at night he experiences outbursts of fear and horror. He is very tired, and still suffers from the effects of torture, in particular the loss of two of his fingers.