Prisoners freed from Islamic State prison share the horrors they witnessed

Some of the 69 prisoners freed from an Islamic State jail in Iraq last Thursday are sharing what their lives were like in captivity, with most saying they were beaten and tortured because they were police officers or the militants suspected they had ties to the Iraqi government or United States.

The raid by American Special Operations forces and their Kurdish counterparts was supposed to free peshmerga fighters, but instead they found Sunni Muslims who were told they were hours away from execution. The men were housed in a building known as Prison No. 8 near the northern Iraqi town of Hawija. They were crammed together in tight spaces, with one cell holding 39 people, and their meals usually consisted of bread pushed through the cell doors. Televisions played ISIS videos, and they were forced to watch beheadings. The methods of torture varied between electric shocks and beatings with hoses; one man said he was smothered with a plastic bag until he lost consciousness. Muhammad Hassan Abdullah al-Jibouri told The New York Times he was accused of having ties to the United States, and even though he denied it, he was severely beaten and tortured. "If I say 'yes' they will execute me," he said. "If I say 'no,' they will hit me to say 'yes' to execute me."

When ISIS first came into the area, Jibouri said, they went door to door to take weapons and money, and offered Sunni men $50 to join their cause. Men were told how to wear their pants (rolled up over the ankle) and how to position their hands and fingers while praying. Many of the men have seen their friends and relatives killed by ISIS, and Jibouri, who said he went a month without seeing the sun while in prison, never thought he'd make it out alive. The prisoners were brought to Iraqi Kurdistan, and six ISIS militants who were jailed for different offenses were identified by their fellow prisoners, and are now in Kurdish custody. Jibouri said all he wants is to see his wife and children again, and for ISIS to leave Iraq. He also told the Times he has a message for Americans: He is grateful to the United States and Joshua L. Wheeler, the Army Delta Force master sergeant who was killed in the raid. "May God keep him in heaven," he said.

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