Article content

By the time the boys were returned to their parents, their jihadist kidnappers had already achieved their goal: loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham.

Talking to The Daily Telegraph two days after his release, one 15-year-old looked sheepishly towards his aunt, and then mustered the courage to express his feelings about his ordeal.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'There will be a global Islamic caliphate': How ISIS brainwashed and tortured schoolboy hostages Back to video

“I must speak the truth. The Islamic State are right, and all the things they taught me are true,” he said. “I am convinced they are right.”

The boy, who gave himself the pseudonym Jan, was one of 148 Kurdish schoolboys who were held for five months by ISIS extremists in Syria and subjected to an indoctrination program designed to brainwash them.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

The boys were in a convoy of 250 students – mostly from the Kurdish border town of Kobane which is now under ISIS siege – stopped in late May as they were being ferried back from taking middle school exams in Aleppo. They were repeatedly beaten as well as indoctrinated, according to accounts given to The Daily Telegraph and a Human Rights Watch report released Tuesday.