Former Daesh recruits in Austria regret wasted years

VIENNA, Austria

More than 300 Daesh recruits serving jail time in Austria are now deeply regretting their decision, a Turkish-origin prison official said.

Ramazan Demir, an Austrian prison official, in an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency said: “They saw what Daesh is doing in Syria and Iraq, and they decided to return to their country, feeling deep sorrow of what they have done.”

Demir, who had a chance to speak to more than a hundred such teenagers, in the capacity of a religious official responsible for prisons, said the inmates serving jail-time “are ashamed of what they had done”.

Without naming one of the convicts to protect his privacy, Demir said: “He is so ashamed of what he has done. He cannot look into his parents' eyes anymore.

"He told us many times that he did not want to live with the stigma and wanted to commit suicide."

Demir said he had been providing religious service to 2,000 Muslim convicts in Austria for the seven past years.

He has counseled teenagers who had radical ideas, including those who had sympathies towards Daesh, or were active members of the group.

He also penned down his experiences in a book.

"I wanted to show people [through the book] that Daesh is not related to Islam, and reveal its true face to people who sympathize with it.”

Currently, 67 convicts are serving jail time in Austrian prisons for links to Daesh, he said.

“Of them, 20 were nabbed at the border when they were trying to join Daesh. In the last five years, more than 100 convicts have served time in jail and have been relesead.”

Those who have been rehabilitated are now visiting prisons, in an effort to de-radicalize inmates.

When asked, what motivates youngsters to join terrorist or radical groups, he said: “Those who were not shown affection from their fathers usually try to cover up that empty spot by joining dangerous groups."

Islam has been an official religion in Austria since 1912. The country is home to more than 500,000 Muslims, about 6 percent of the total population, making up the country’s largest non-Christian religious minority.

Many European countries, including Austria, are dealing with a situation where teenagers, who get radicalized online through propaganda websites, flee their homes to join Daesh.

Reporting by Askin Kiyagan:Writing by Satuk Bugra Kutlugun