WASHINGTON DC, KOMPAS.com – A boy admits feeling “satisfying relief” to return to the United States after he was forced to threaten the President Donald Trump in a video created by the group ISIS.
Matthew, the child’s name, was brought by his mother and stepfather to Syria. He was 10 years old when he was recorded in a video addressed to Trump and told the president to prepare for fighting in the US.
Matthew is now 13 years old and lives with his father after he was taken home by US military in 2018.
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“Everything’s happened and it’s done. It’s all over now,” Matthew told BBC.
“I was very young at the time so I didn’t really understand everything that was going on.”
Matthew underwent counseling to help him adapt and the process went smoothly.
His stepfather, Moussa Elhassani, died in what was thought to be a drone strike in the summer of 2017.
His mother, Samantha Sally, was convicted earlier this month of financing terrorism and sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
In April 2015, the family, who looked like ordinary Americans, crossed into ISIS territory from the Turkish border province of Sanliurfa.
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“We were running across a very dark area. It was night, there were many dots with barbed wire … Not much was thought of at the time except, ‘I have to run’,” said Matthew as he recounted the ordeal he faced for the first time. time to the event Panorama of BBC and Frontline, an event that is being broadcast PBS– the US public broadcasting institution.
In a city that ISIS claims as its capital, Raqqa, Matthew’s stepfather, Elhassani, was sent for military training and became an ISIS sniper.
Matthew, who was only 8 at the time, tried his best to adapt to his new home.
“When we were in Raqqa for the first time, we were in an urban part. It was quite noisy, usually from gunshots,” he said. “Sometimes there are random explosions, it sounds like it’s far away. So we don’t have to worry too much.”
But in early 2017, Matthew’s mother emailed her sister in the US asking for money to help her family escape, attaching a particularly disturbing video of Matthew.
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In one video, Elhassani forces Matthew to strap on a suicide bombing. At his stepfather’s orders, Matthew plays the role of how he will welcome the American authorities who will save him, but then kill them by detonating a bomb.
In another video, Matthew is seen unloading an AK-47 loaded with ammunition, after being challenged by his stepfather to do so in less than a minute.
When the US-led coalition stepped up its air attack in Raqqa, a bomb hit their neighbor’s house which collapsed onto the family’s home, Matthew had to find his own way out amid the rubble and dust.
In August 2017, Raqqa was finally crushed, but the ISIS group still predicted victory and forced Matthew to deliver a message of defiance. The group released a video of Matthew, then 10 years old, threatening the president of the United States.
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“My message to Trump, the puppet controlled by the Jewish people: God has promised us victory and he promised you defeat,” said Matthew, reciting the words he had memorized. “This battle will not end in Raqqa or Mosul. It will end in your land … So be prepared, because the battle has just started.”
In the interview, Matthew said he was given no choice but to take part in the video, due to his stepfather’s outrage. “He started to lose his mind, like being mentally unstable, very unstable mentally,” he said.
Shortly thereafter, Elhassani died in what was thought to be a drone attack.
“I’m happy that I didn’t like my stepfather,” said Matthew. “I thought it shouldn’t be, I’m glad someone died. But we all cried with joy.”
Matthew’s mother, Samantha Sally, was then able to pay a people smuggler to remove herself and her four children from ISIS territory. Matthew was hidden in a barrel at the back of a truck as he passed an ISIS checkpoint.
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When they reached Kurdish-controlled territory, they were detained in detention camps, and in the winter of 2017, Panorama first time talking to Sally.
Sally says she was deceived by her husband to bring the family to Syria and admitted not knowing her husband’s plans.
At one point in Raqqa, Sally said that her husband was abusive to her. Sally also admitted that they had bought two Yazidi teenage girls as slaves, and that her husband raped them frequently.
After returning to the US, while undergoing court proceedings, Sally sticks to the story that she had been tricked.
Although Sally has supported her husband “in his foolish endeavors,” Sally insisted that she had no role in supporting him to join ISIS.
However, an investigation Panorama/Frontline reveal evidence to the contrary in this case.
A member of the Elhassani family said that Moussa had been obsessed with ISIS for months before his family left the US, and that he saw Moussa watching ISIS propaganda, including videos of the execution, at home.
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A friend of Samantha Sally’s also recalled a conversation with her in which Sally said her husband had told her he was called to join the “holy war”.
Investigation Panorama/Frontline found that Sally had made a series of trips to Hong Kong in the weeks before her family left the US, keeping at least US $ 30,000, or about Rp. 425 million, in cash and gold in a safe.
After nearly 12 months in prison, Sally changed her story and pleaded guilty to terrorism financing as part of a plea deal in her legal case.
Matthew with his biological father, Juan. Matthew, a boy who was in the spotlight after in an ISIS video he threatened the President of the United States (US) Donald Trump.-
Sally had a hard time accepting her mistake and said, “That’s the only deal offered with that” T “that doesn’t put guidelines on life sentences.”
Prosecutors said their discovery of Sally’s actions helping to film a video of her son Matthew being forced to strap on a suicide bombing and dismantle an AK-47 was “gruesome”.
They say it may never be known why Sally helped her husband join ISIS. Sally claims that she has been coerced by her dominant husband.
Talking about what it’s like to step back onto US soil, Matthew said, “It’s like wearing tight clothes or socks and tight shoes all day and then taking them off and feeling comfortable and relaxed in the hot tub. That’s what it feels like. Such a satisfying relief. . It feels good. “
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