Report: Islamic State Tortured, Abused Kidnapped Syrian Children
A human rights group has released a report saying Kurdish children faced "torture and abuse" while being held captive by the Islamic State.
Human Rights Watch is reporting that children kidnapped by the Islamic State from the Syrian border town of Kobani were reportedly beaten with electric cables and forced to watch beheading videos while in captivity. The captives were also allowed to bathe only occasionally and were forced to learn about the Islamic State's extreme version of Islam.
The children were offspring of Kurdish fighters, who have been battling the Islamic State for control of Kobani for over a month.
"Those who didn't conform to the program were beaten. They beat us with a green hose or a thick cable with wire running through it. They also beat the soles of our feet," the report quoted one kidnapped boy as saying.
"They sometimes found excuses to beat us for no reason […] They made us learn verses of the Koran and beat those who didn't manage to learn them."
The report goes on to state that the 250 children, ages 14 to 16, were kidnapped by Islamic State militants while returning from school examinations back in May.
"This evidence of torture and abuse of children by ISIS underlines why no one should support their criminal enterprise," Fred Abrahams, the special advisor for children's rights at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement, as reported by The Washington Post.
Human Rights Watch added that the abuse of the children, which for some lasted nearly six months, amounts to war crimes.
