Khalil al-Mousa

Married with four children, Khalil al-Mousa owned a shop in Raqqa which sold socks. In 2017, Hisba officers arrested him twice: once for wearing tight trousers, and once for serving a female client whose eyes were uncovered. Both times, he was taken to the Muawiya School Prison, where he was interrogated and imprisoned. 

In his 2022 interview with the ISIS Prisons Museum, al-Mousa is filmed descending the stairs to the school basement. At the time of Khalil’s detention, around fifty prisoners were detained in this basement. They were charged with various offenses, including violating the dress code, shaving their beards, using cellphones, or listening to music. A taxi driver was charged with giving a ride to an unaccompanied woman.

Al-Mousa recounts being interrogated before being taken down to the basement. He explains the layout of rooms, including group cells, rooms used by the guards, and bathrooms,  as well as the narrow solitary confinement cells in which up to fifteen people at a time were crammed as a punishment for ‘stubbornness’ or in order to force confessions. Al-Mousa explains the uses of each section in great detail.

As for food, al-Mousa says that the portions were sufficient. They were served three meals daily, consisting of halvah and eggs, beans and chickpeas, or bulgur and chicken.

On the other hand, medical care was almost non-existent. Prisoners weren’t permitted to see a doctor or go to hospital unless they were on the verge of dying.

Standing in the cell where he was once detained, al-Mousa points to the spot where he used to sit. He describes the prisoners’ daily routine, their relationships, and how they spent their time with each other, chatting and discussing each other’s cases and problems.  He mentions some of his fellow detainees’ names. 

He also points to the writing on the walls, remembering one text being written. He notices his own name written on the wall.

During the tour, al-Mousa indicates a corner where prisoners were flogged. He remembers that there was a particular torture room somewhere else, but he never entered it.

He explains the various types of ISIS prisons – both Hisba prisons and security prisons. He says most officials and jailers were from countries in the Arabian Peninsula like Saudi Arabia and Yemen. They called each other by nicknames (Abu Dujana, Abu Hurairah, Abu al-Hawra…) or by reference to their home country (the Saudi, the Yemeni, the Tunisian). Sometimes guards entered his cell in order to preach and give religious lessons which lasted for an hour or more.

Some of the jailers were cruel. Others were merciful and friendly to the prisoners, advising them to repent and refrain from violating the rules. Al-Mousa says that there was no discrimination between the prisoners, and that visits were prohibited no matter how long the detention, whether bribes were offered or not. 

In one room, al-Mousa remembers a plasma TV screen on the wall which broadcast ISIS propaganda, including films of prisoners being flogged or beheaded.

Al-Mousa says he never heard of any escape attempts. He emphasizes that escaping was impossible, given the precautions taken by ISIS.

One of the stories that struck him the most was that of a man detained and punished because he had accompanied his brother’s sick wife to hospital. The man kept assuring the investigator that his brother’s wife was his honor – in other words, that he had no romantic or sexual intentions towards her whatsoever – but ISIS refused to accept this.

Finally, al-Mousa recounts how he was released after being enrolled in a compulsory sharia course. This was held  in one of the city’s mosques, and it lasted for two or three weeks. His ID was finally returned to him when he passed the test at the end of the course.

Al-Mousa speaks repeatedly about the fear that gripped him upon his arrest. He feared what might happen to him, especially the possibility of being bombed by Coalition forces, given that other buildings occupied by ISIS had been hit.

He explains how everything in the place felt dark and distressing when he was deprived of his freedom, but that today, seeing the changes in the school and the return of bright colors, he feels an inner comfort.