Horror Before the Beheadings: What ISIS Hostages Endured
When James Foley was forced to his knees on a bald hill somewhere in Syria and executed on camera, it was a very public end to a hidden ordeal.
The story of what happened in an underground ISIS prison in Syria, which is now being told for the first time, is one of excruciating suffering. Mr. Foley was one of at least 23 Western hostages from 12 countries who were routinely beaten and subjected to waterboarding. They were starved and threatened with execution by one group of fighters, only to be handed off to members of another group who brought them chocolates and spoke as if they were contemplating freeing them. In their darkest hours, the hostages turned on one another. And they sought comfort in the faith of their kidnappers — embracing Islam and taking Muslim names.
The fates of the 23 diverged once their captors decided to trade them for ransom. Mr. Foley and his American and British cellmates watched as, one by one, 15 of their cellmates, all but one of them European, were freed for cash while they remained chained inside.
Their struggle for survival was pieced together through interviews with former hostages, locals who witnessed their treatment, family members and colleagues of the captives, and a tight circle of advisers who made trips to the region to try to win their release. Crucial details were confirmed by a former member of the Islamic State — the militant Sunni group also known as ISIS — who was initially stationed in the prison where Mr. Foley was held, and who provided previously unknown details of his captivity.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/world/middleeast/horror-before-the-beheadings-what-isis-hostages-endured-in-syria.html?emc=edit_na_20141025
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