Indian doctor Ramana Murthy Kosanam Indian doctor Ramana Murthy Kosanam

An Indian doctor, Ramana Murthy Kosanam, who was released after 17 months in ISIS captivity recounted his traumatic experience while he was imprisoned at their camp in Libya. In an interview to new agency ANI, he narrated how the ISIS militants forced the captives, including him, to watch their attacks and atrocities against the people in several countries including, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, among others. He said, “ISIS people forced us to watch videos of what they did to Iraq, Syria, Nigeria and other places. It was bit difficult to watch them.”

Speaking on ISIS’ interest in spreading its tentacles in India, the doctor said the group was well informed and educated, having thorough knowledge of India’s development in the field of education and economy. The doctor further said they were keen on spreading their ideology to other parts of the world, including India. He said, “These ISIS people are well-educated youngsters and they do know about India and its development and how it has developed in education, economy and everything else. They are interested in India. But, I did understand that they wanted to spread the ideology of their nation to other parts of the world, including India.”

Though he was not physically tortured, Dr Kosanam was verbally abused. He was asked to perform surgeries in hospitals inside ISIS strongholds. After he refused citing health issues and the lack of medical training to perform surgeries, Kosanam was taken out of Mahakama jail and put into another jail. In his statement, he said, “In a camp in the city they requested me to come and work in there hospitals. But since I was 61 then I had back pain and right leg nerve pain. I told them I am medically trained, not surgically trained. So they pulled me out of the Mahakama jail and put in another. I saw all kinds of attacks there.”

He also shed light on how the ISIS exploited those as young as ten years to carry out their attacks. “The working members of the organisations are mostly youngsters, I saw suicide bombers as young as 10 year old. there were members beyond the age of 65 too.” He added that all the members of the outfit were extremely dedicated towards their organisation and were strictly following every diktat of the caliphate.

Thanking the team of Indian officials for rescuing him from the ISIS’ clutches, he said that the official had worked very hard to pull him out of Libya and he would never forget that. He thanked the Government of India, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the National Security Advisor, and others part the team. “I am so thankful to our PM and his team and other officials from the Indian embassy. I’ll never forget this all my life. They helped me to come to the embassy. These people worked so hard to pull me out from there.” External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, had tweeted about Murthy’s rescue earlier this week and informed that he had suffered a bullet injury.

After intervention by a team of Indian officials in Libya, Dr Kosanam was finally freed on February 14. He was abducted on September 8, 2015 by suspected Islamic State militants. Kosanam who had been working as a physician at a hospital in Sirte, went missing while returning to his flat after work. Dr Kosanam, who hails from Eluru in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, had been working in Libya for 15 years. His wife Bhavani Annapoorna K lives with their two children in Dondapadu village on the outskirts of Eluru.

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