It's not the accent you expect to hear when you are standing in the courtyard of a prison in Tripoli.

Five young men, mostly teenagers, all dressed in combat gear and carrying rifles, and all from Manchester.

They are working at Ain Zara prison, helping to guard political prisoners - those who fought for Gaddafi during the recent conflict

Ahmed, 19, says they don't just work as guards: "On our two days off we have to go and arrest people.

"It's anyone involved with the Gaddafi regime, because some slipped under the radar."

The group all say they felt compelled to travel to Libya when the uprising began, leaving homes in Whalley Range, Fallowfield and Moss Side.

It's thought hundreds of young British men travelled to fight, most of them from Manchester.

Some of them have decided to stay in the country.

For 17-year-old Abdul, who joined the revolutionaries in March, it has been a horrific eight months.

But he says it was a journey he had to make: "One night I'd woken up at 3am and put on the TV to watch the news.

"I was watching my people getting killed. I thought they're my people, this is my country, I have to join them.

"I came with my brother and three friends, all from Manchester," he explains.

"My Mum was upset, she asked me to stay but I told her I had to go. My Dad said 'It's your life, so do what you want'.

Arriving in Benghazi, he met up with friends who used to live in the UK and taken to a training camp to learn how to fight.

"You're supposed to stay for two weeks but after a day we wanted to get going, so we left," admits the 17-year-old.

However, within a week of arriving in Libya he was captured by Gaddafi troops after his first battle.

One of Gaddafi's people came to the guy on my right and put 30 bullets in his body Abdul, 17

"We came under heavy fire, they were using every single heavy weapon on us.

"It was like it was raining, you couldn't put your head up," says Abdul.

Both the men he was captured with were shot and killed in front of him.

"One of Gaddafi's people came to the guy on my right and put 30 bullets in his body.

"The guy on my left was his cousin, he started crying and so they put two bullets in his head," says Abdul.

"In that moment you don't care, you're not scared because you know you're going to die."

'Mock executions'

Abdul spent the next six months in the notorious Abu Salim prison in Tripoli and says he was tortured daily.

He says he was put through mock executions, including once where he was hanged until he lost consciousness before he was then cut down.

"You get tortured in that prison every single day," says Abdul.

"I shared a cell, built for two prisoners, with 40 other men. We had to take it in turns to sit down as there wasn't enough room."

Abdul escaped after rebel fighters bombed the prison offices.

He went back home to Manchester briefly, but really wanted to be back in Libya.

"When I was locked up I promised my boys that when I came out I'd work in a prison and guard the guys who guarded me."

Abdul and his team now work at the Ain Zara prison, patrolling the cells filled with 'those who fought for Gaddafi'.

They also take part in operations to pick up known Gaddafi soldiers from their homes around Tripoli.

Ahmed also says he wants to stay in Libya: "To be honest I just can't leave. All my friends are here, we have a job, we get paid."

Giving up their weapons isn't something they want to do either. All of them have rifles, mainly AK47s.

Abdul says: "I can't sleep without my gun, this is my wife."

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