Samer - The Raqqa Diaries: Escape from Islamic State

In areas of Syria and Iraq controlled by so-called Islamic State (IS), the penalty for speaking to the Western media is death by beheading. That fact highlights not only the courage but also the conviction of anti-IS activists like our brave diarist.

When Samer (not his real name) began writing these diaries, he lived in Raqqa, the capital of ISs self-proclaimed caliphate in eastern Syria and one of the most isolated cities on earth. Internet cafs there are monitored closely by IS, and mobile phone lines can often be traced. It is almost impossible for foreign journalists like me to get in, and locals are forbidden to leave without permission. Some of those caught trying to do so have been executed. But after several months of nervy and often interrupted conversations, we finally managed to make contact with a small activist group in Raqqa called Al-Sharqiya 24. Trust slowly grew between us, and finally one of their members courageously agreed to write a personal diary of his recent experiences there. What followed is an extraordinary and chilling insight into how the brutality and injustices perpetrated by IS permeates almost every level of life in its now infamous capital.

To help protect Samer, his words were encrypted and sent to a third country before being passed on to the BBC. Names and other details have been changed for the same reason.

Getting the diaries out of Raqqa was often a heart-stopping experience. Sometimes, for days on end, calls to our author and his group would go unanswered. My colleagues and I were often left wondering whether they had all been caught by IS. It was a horrible feeling. On one occasion we heard news that two anti-IS activists who had managed to get over the border into Turkey had been beheaded. We feared at first that one of them might be Samer. Fortunately, we finally managed to contact him the following day.

Much of the media coverage of Syria has, inevitably, looked more at the political and military side of the conflict than the way it has affected peoples everyday lives. This makes it harder for those living far away from it all to truly understand the suffering it is causing civilians there. It also makes it more difficult for us to relate to the individuals we hear about, even though they share the same hopes, needs, dreams and fears as ourselves. The personal accounts of our diarist bridge that gap in an extraordinary way.

I have wondered what makes somebody speak out in the way Samer has, knowing that by doing so he is putting at risk not only himself, but also those he holds dear. The answer becomes clear in his diaries. Having seen friends and relatives butchered, his communitys life shattered and the local economy ruined by notorious extremists, our courageous diarist believes he is fighting back by telling the world what is happening to his beloved city.

Samers brave words have affected me deeply. Despite the fact that we are separated by thousands of miles, it feels like his family have become my family, his friends my friends, his frightening world mine too.

Mike Thomson

BBC Foreign Affairs Correspondent

August 2016

Media activists are the thorn in the side of Syrias current tyrants. The Assad regime, which has tyrannised Syrians for the last forty years, has allowed the invaders, Daesh, to impose an equally perverse reign of terror on the Syrian people. It is no surprise then that the regime has imprisoned and tortured thousands of media activists, and that Daesh dedicates time and manpower to hunting them down and devising extreme ways to kill them.

While the regime besieges towns and cities physically, Daesh besieges communities by cutting off their communication to the outside world. Limited mobile phone coverage, monitoring at internet cafs, no 3G, alleged listening-in to landline calls, no access to newspapers, and now Daesh has begun destroying satellite dishes. It does not want others stories to be known. As a result, it dominates the media landscape inside and outside. It is only brave activists who undermine Daeshs monopoly by risking their lives to report the truth to the outside world. But they are few. Were the communications siege to be broken, people living inside Daesh territory would have access to the outside world, and vice versa. Their online presence would provide journalists with an alternative narrative, dilute the effectiveness of Daesh propaganda and expose its lies.

We dedicate this book to Syrias media activists. In memory of those, our friends, who have been killed for daring to expose tyranny. May Allah protect you. And for those of us who continue this courageous work, may we continue to be safe and successful. Only through perseverance will we achieve the revolutions goals, which we used to chant in the streets in 2011: Freedom, dignity, justice.

Al-Sharqiya 24
August 2016

6th March 2013

One morning, everyone in the city woke up to the sound of explosions and gunfire. My God, I thought, what is happening? Has revolution against the government finally arrived?

Then came some frantic banging and shouting outside our house. When my father opened the door, our neighbour grabbed hold of his arm and screamed at the top of his voice: Theyve done it! Theyve done it! The rebels have entered our city theyve taken over!

My father asked if he was joking. But our neighbour insisted that the police and army were gone; some had been killed but the rest had just run away. They were no longer in the city.

I couldnt believe what I was hearing. I ran outside and saw cars flying the flag of the Free Syrian Army. One of the cars stopped right in front of me. A man leaned out of the window and told me not to be afraid. He said he and his fellow soldiers had come to liberate us all from tyranny and corruption. We are your brothers, he added.

I asked him if I would still be able to go back to university to finish my education. He replied that yes, everything would be OK once theyd got rid of the tyrants. My head was spinning, I couldnt believe all this was happening.

Within a few hours, everything became clearer. The Free Syrian Army, Ahrar al-Sham and the Al-Nusra Front had taken control of our city.

In the evening, still very excited, I met up with my friends. We sat and discussed what to do now. We all agreed that we should give our full support to the Free Syrian Army since they were all Syrians like us and shared our goals. We all wanted to be freed from Assads regime. But we didnt know quite what to make of the two Islamist groups Daesh and the Al-Nusra Front who had helped liberate our city. We were a bit worried about them.

I will never forget the time when Daesh first appeared on the streets of our city. At first opposition forces surrounded the fighters who occupied the government buildings. We were optimistic. But then everything changed. The Free Syrian Army began to weaken. It was busy fighting the regime elsewhere and its forces around Raqqa became thinner and thinner. Its soldiers were hit by repeated government air strikes. Daesh fought back, broke the FSAs siege and quickly took over our helpless city.