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It is an undisclosed location on the outskirts of Kamishli in Syrian Kurdistan. Orches a rehabilitation center for the sons of jihadists. It took us years of negotiation to be able to film here. My name is Adam, I am 21 years old, I am French, I come from Toulouse. I'm fed up with this war. I'm really fed up. I can't take it anymore. I'm Actually, I feel like if I stay here, I don't know, I don't want to die a series of deaths in this hole. My name is Youssef, I come from France. I'm about 19 years old, about 18 years old, 19 years old.
Life is difficult here, especially for my family. My family isn't here either. I have no one left here. My mother isn't even here anymore. That's right, my name is [name], I'm about 19 years old and I'm French-Moroccan. We're actually dying. Staying here is dangerous for my health, for my, how should I say, psychology. I'm afraid of going crazy here. I'm afraid that one day I'm going to snap. My name is Hamz, I'm from Toulouse, I was born in 2002. I'm sending my mother because she brought me back to Syria to forgive her. Not too much security. They range in age from 12 to 21. All of them were plunged into the war by their parents who left the fight in the jihad.
7 a.m. A guard comes to wake the youngsters. Amza arrived in Syria at the age of 12 with her mother. She died in a bombing raid. All he has left is a grandmother and a sister in France. Here, you sleep as they want, you wake up as they want, you go out to eat as they want. There's just one small thing left, you go to the toilet when they want to too. That's all the time. If it has that, it's with butter. If there isn't what it's called, it's fear, but with that too. But that's every day, that doesn't change anything Yeah, of course.
You sit down, it's cold, you see there's no chair, you sit on it, there's nothing there, it's cold too, you put your bread on the ground and it gets dirty. Can't you see I'm always in your hand? Every time they leave the facilities, prisoners have to undergo a body search. A piece of cutlery or broken could be used as a young person, it was for me when I went when we came here, it was a holiday. Actually, I didn't pass. In fact, we even went to lots of countries, you see. We went through Italy, Georgia, and Greece. In Greece, we stayed there for a very, very long time. We went to the beach and everything, to the sea and everything. That
was it. It was really good, you see. We also went to the funfair. After that, we arrived in Türkiye, we went to Istanbul, to Cara, it was beautiful there too. And one day, we started to leave, to cross a border, you see, and we went into Syria. And then I realized that, yeah, we'd actually gone back to Syria, into a country at war. I saw that it's good but she doesn't wear the normal veil anymore, she used to wear the NCOB. My father, I didn't feel him at all like before, in fact, when I talk to him, he doesn't answer me the same way anymore. I don't know, you don't feel like you used to, you felt harder, a little harder, and even, I don't know, there are a lot of
things that have changed, I do n't know, I feel that he wasn't the same anymore. The first time I saw him, I was walking, you see, and I saw someone, he was cutting off the other person's head, do you see or not? When I was watching at first, I was feeling strange, I was shocked. What did he do? Damn, you see, I'm going to treat myself after that. No, I've already seen how many times people's goals and everything. But it's okay, you get used to it. I know that's weird. You see, but you're getting used to it. I'll lose one last time. If I lose, I can. brothers wearing explosive belts and assault rifles targeted carefully chosen locations in the heart of the French capital. For me, my father is a terrorist.
Because I want the one who loves me to be in Syria, where they are dead. What did we actually gain from all that? I remember at that moment, my father was happy, you know. They had even made a kind of sound, a kind of music, for this attack . My father doesn't talk about it at all because it's for his safety, even though I would tell him, "Dad, I remember asking questions, why are you wanted?" For my father, it was also the truth to bring people back. You have to fight for God, you see, to bring Islam back, to show the image of Islam. But actually, for me, they showed the wrong image, you know. Killing people is not actually part of Islam Because in fact, they killed people and then look what we've gained now.
I hope they know that I have nothing to do with it. I hope they know that because I really have nothing to do with it. I'm such a victim. You know, when I think about it, I'm poor, you know. I didn't do anything. It's never a fight. No to fighting. I have never, I have never been in combat. I've never killed a gun. Wow, what do I actually feel about all this? The Kurdish authorities confirm that Adem was never at war. This is not the case for Amza. In 2014, he appeared with a gun in his hand in a propaganda video accompanied by one of the other French nationals now in Orches Yos.
Salam. Where are you from? From France. From France? Yeah, but from Strasbourg, France 7. I'm from Toulouse, France. Toulouse, Strasbourg, all. That represents more. Yeah. And you, who do you represent? Yeah, I'm here, I shouldn't have told you, he did that, you see? He killed people, it really has nothing to do with it. They were just kids, they went to school, they went out, I don't know what, you know. Do you see or not? He did that, he ruined it, you see the name of Islam. You tell me a good message from where you are, you're out of luck. You are in a country of black people. Here we're midfielders, we're in a series, here it's war. Yeah, it's
not like little babies do things like their parents. Oh, I want that. Come if you want to see how it works. You fart, it's me actually, I wasn't thinking at the time. I was still very young I was being a bit silly, actually. This man, like us when we were little. He gave us two Calachov weapons, I regret something crazy because of that because maybe this thing is causing me a lot of problems in about 15 or 20 days. I'm relearning Islamic stuff, you know, you have to read the Quran every month, every morning, every day. Then, bam, when you go for the weapons, you learn about the weapons and how you can use them. You see, Calashnikov, he'll teach you an RPG if you know it, you see, he'll teach you PKC, do you know PKC? Yeah. There you go,
went to war hidden like a man. That's it, no one is telling me anymore "Don't do this, do that, I don't know what." Do you see or not? You see, I'm free. I have tears in my eyes. I have weapons in my hand. I can do a lot of things. Do you see or not? I am a man in quotation marks. In truth, you're an idiot. Sorry to say, but you see, it's not a game, do you understand? I don't know. It's like playing on a phone, you lose, then you start all over again. No, if you lose, you don't come back. So you actually think you killed people? I wish it weren't, but maybe, maybe not. I don't want to say no to you. I'm pretending not to, I know it's impossible that it isn't. I don't know what, I do
n't know what. Maybe, but I wish it were n't. Today he's back in the classroom. 3 hours of lessons a day to relay what Iis had made him forget. On the program, rediscovering the basics of Arabic, maths and English. The teachers are curds paid by an NGO which according to our information is funded by the United States. For fear of reprisals, all the teachers prefer to remain anonymous. Yes, I was. Okay. And what about you? Okay, actually the first time I saw the woman and everything, I was shocked for a bit, you know, but there you go, and if you touch a woman, sorry to tell you, you're going to go into pron cach, OK.
No, without the woman, he can't do anything. Damn, you're just coming out of adolescence, you know. Yeah. If I were in Europe, I might have a girlfriend with me and that's it. I would have started my life, that's all. No, I don't have anything at all right now. I have to see the teacher every day giving me English or math lessons. What does that do? Well, it's kind of annoying because you're saying "dude, yo, uh, I'm here, you know." For example, this one was one of the obstacles at the beginning. They were not accepting to deal or to even do the eye contact with the others. Now, all of these things like uh stayed behind. This is important for us. This is a good
indicator and uh let's say important indicator that we are doing the progress. we don't confront their thoughts or their ideology directly because it's not going we are not here to discuss the religion or their the radical thoughts. Then they find themselves that okay maybe this is or that was not the best way to live or to learn. They get convinced at some point and that is the achievement that is the goal. After school that morning, Amza had a doctor's appointment. لا النفخه رايحه هيع را الحمد غير مكان لاف النفخه رايحه مكسور في وجه احيانا من هون موصك يطلع كله اي مبين هلا وضع حمزه اول ما اجا لهون كان في شزايا براسه الجمجمه عنده بتنتفخ اذا زادت حالته يعني ساقت زياده وحمزه بده خمس عمليات العمليه هون ما تصير وضع حمزه على
الادويه ما نقدر نقطع عنه الادويه واحيانا تجي حالات اختلاج اذا اجت حالات الاختلاج لازم فورا ابره يعني من دون الابره العين تروح يعني يصير حاله اختلاج نظاميه عنده يضل نص ساعه احيانا ارباع الساعه يضل حسب وضعه ما نقطع عنه لاخلص علىك القديمه بدنا نستمر في شاشه شهرين وثلاثه لحتى يقدر على الاكزمه كلياته نسيطر عليها ليك حتى هون طالعه واذا زادت زياده كمان بيجي منها دم اذا اجنا دم منيحه was also injured in 2019 he nearly lost a leg because of I can't play anymore, in fact that's a bit of a problem for me. It's a bit sad about the injury to my leg. I hope that it doesn't kill her, but it will still heal her. I would like to perform the "get out of here" operation.
The one who shoots yellow is a German with the shot from there. Here, he's a Tunisian. He's the best player here. Actually, he's too strong. You see, he uses techniques and everything. You have Turks, you have Indonesians, you have Turkistans, Turkistanas, and Russians too. You can find everything here. You're confused. It's a good mix, you know. My body isn't doing well. My head, my skull, my body, it's broken. My memory is very forgetful; it's broken. My body, it's a little, it's very weak. He is injured. I'm not well. I don't feel well.
I would really like to play football. I would love to play volleyball somewhere, but I can't. Maybe if I get hit or run too fast, maybe I could, maybe I could fall, maybe I could fall into a coma or something like that. هذا الملف هو ملف عالمي للغايه نحن نتشارك المسؤوليه جميعا نحنول عليه نتمنى من هذه الدول مشاركتنا خاصه هذه المراكز وتقديم المزيد من الدعم لعمليه التاهيل الحاصله في هذه المراكز الانش يعلم جيدا بان مكتب شون العدل والاصلاح يعمل على الاعاده الذهنيه النزلاء او المعتقلين المتواجدين لديهم وهذا يثير غضب داعش لدرجه كبيره جدا يعني لذلك هو يعمل ليلا نهارا على التخطيط على هجوم على مراكزنا من خلال استهداف Normally, Brazil is stronger. He's going to lose now.
I think that's how much it is? He must be, you know, 37 years old. He is 37 Ah, he's grown up. Smart. I've known him since, uh, since I've been in France, you know. And I remember he was young, you know. Now he's gotten a bit stout. He has really changed. You know, that's when a man came along. It's been about 10 years. I really liked that football player when I was in France, you know. Well, so far I love him. You know, you sometimes feel a bit disconnected from world news, from what's happening in real time, well, frankly. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I have a feeling you know I was in a box, it's closed, you know. It's sad.
Exactly. Yeah, actually, yeah, it's really sad. It's sad because you're like, "Yeah, actually, you're out of touch with the world." And sometimes I think, you know, I feel like I'm in pause mode, you know, and I'm waiting for someone to come along, put me on playback, you know, so I can start my life again and be able to move forward, you know. Restarted. I know that a day will come, but I hope it will happen quickly because, in fact, there are moments in my life that pass and, in fact, the years, I could not go back. You see, these years in fact, I can't go back, it's either now or never. Don't be
afraid of me. Don't be afraid of me. I'm not a monster, I don't kill people. I don't know, I'm not a vampire. I don't see any blood. I don't actually want to do that. I'm not like that. Actually, I can't live here anymore. That's it, I'm fed up. When I'm all alone, I talk to myself, I tell myself I want to die, I'm fed up. Our future is vanishing. Basically, France, ever since we got it, tells us that you are children of the Republic, I don't know how many. Actually, no, actually, for me, it's just a word because if it really were the children of the Republic, it would have given us a homeland from the beginning. I'd like that. Yeah. France wants me to be centralized, and besides, I know they can actually do it.
Just four kids here, you see. Which games that actually require returning to their country and seeing their family and living freely, a real life, you know. It is said, in quotation marks, that France is afraid of us. We're not like you think, do you see or not? Our family, they did some things. We're not obliged, we're just like them. Do you see or not? You're like that, if I'm here you see how you know if I've changed or not? How do you know? Can't you see? Go ahead, I'll set up a center here. Take me to France too, from a center you see, and you'll see, you'll see. to their country of origin.
The United Nations and the European Court of Human Rights that their imprisonment is contrary to international law. Will they ever return home? Will they finally return home? When contacted, the French authorities did not answer our questions.
