Indian student in custody after spending six months with Islamic State

[WildestDreams]

Indian student in custody after spending six months with Islamic State

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 03 December, 2014, 1:55am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 03 December, 2014, 1:55am

The Washington Post

Areeb Majeed was recruited to join the Islamic State, but once arrived, he was made to do menial jobs for most of his time.

A young engineering student from the suburbs of Mumbai is now in the custody of India's counterterrorism authorities after spending six months in Iraq alongside the fighters of the Islamic State.

But instead of fighting, Areeb Majeed told investigators he spent most of his time doing menial jobs, including cleaning toilets used by the jihadists, according to reports in the Indian media. The reports said Majeed, was compelled by his parents to come home.

Majeed, 23, is one of four young Muslim men from Kalyan, a city east of Mumbai, known to have journeyed to the Middle East to join the extremist outfit, which controls chunks of territory in both Iraq and Syria. Like many foreign fighters in the Islamic State's ranks, Majeed was recruited online and aided by a network of local contacts and travel agents, who helped him reach the Iraqi city of Mosul.

But once he arrived there, Majeed soon discovered that jihad wasn't all that it's cracked up to be. According to details leaked by anonymous officials in India's National Investigation Agency, the country's top counterterrorism unit, Majeed was made to fetch water, tend to other fighters and clean out their latrines.

He also suffered a bullet wound in the neck - in circumstances unexplained in the media reports - that was left untreated for three days until he pleaded for help. "Only after I begged them, I was taken to a hospital. I was treating myself, but the injury was worsening as there was no proper medication or food available in the camps," the Times of India quoted Majeed as telling investigators.

Disillusionment set in, according to India's Investigation Agency. Islamic State fighters "raped many a woman there", he reportedly said.