ISIS exploited the struggles and poverty of so many young people around the world to expand its territory and fortify its power. The terror group brainwashed young minds and lured lost souls into believing infinite lies and consequently adopting an ideology of extremism and terror. It did not take long, however, for these radicalized young men and women to realize that they wasted their entire lives and let down their nations in the pursuit of nothing but empty promises laid out by ISIS. Today, former ISIS members have one message to tell those who might show interest or mere curiosity in the group, and that is a staunch warning to “stay away”!
Since his release from prison two years ago, the former jihadist once known as Abu Aicha has made an impressive showing of turning his life around. The 27-year-old Belgian who traveled to Syria in 2013 says he rejects ISIS and prefers studying to fighting. “I had seen with my own eyes what ISIS had done,” said the Brussels native. Of all the returnees from Syria the Belgian has met since coming home, most “do not want to have anything to do with the Islamic State,” he said. Belgian officials, citing extensive interviews with former detainees, found that 84 percent of male returnees from the Middle East and 95 percent of the women “have been showing signs of disengagement” from extremist ideology since their return. Of those still in prison, about half had made a similar transition.
“We are not naive,” said a Middle Eastern counterterrorism official whose government monitors hundreds of citizens who joined the caliphate and are now home again. The official said many of his country’s returning fighters, like those in Europe, claim “they no longer want to be part of ISIS, and that they understood they made a mistake.”
