(Sky News) “I travelled to Syria to make jihad. I won’t lie,” Londoner Hamza Parvez says through his cell grate. “A lot of mistakes were made — I’m bearing the brunt of those mistakes.”
He is one of thousands of foreigners, from countries such as Britain and the US, who’ve been held in prisons since Islamic State was largely defeated in 2019. Now they’re seen as a growing security risk by the US-backed Kurdish armed group holding them.
The smell as the prison door is heaved [open] is pungent.
“Put these on,” the guards tell us, handing out masks. “There’s a lot of tuberculosis about.”
For about six years, these men have been cut off from the outside world. They’ve not faced a trial or seen lawyers. They know nothing of the seismic events taking place within Syria.
