Former German ISIS recruit tells all
New arrivals are given a choice: “You must immediately decide to either be a fighter or a suicide bomber. In a nutshell, when you go there, you’re either dead or dead.”
As a new recruit, Ebrahim was given weapons training and Quran lessons. “Before the battle we were told that we cannot take any hostages. All had to be slaughtered. It was a real brainwashing.”
"Your homosexuality killed your mother"
I was born into a family of “almost” four. I say “almost” because I lost my father when I was nine. It was around that time that I became aware that I liked one of my friends in a different way. We spent many nights and most days together and I really liked her, so much so that I remembered when her family moved out of our neighborhood I was upset for a long time and struggled to overcome my grief.
In those days I was even wondering whether I had done something that caused her to leave me so that I would never see her again.
Candy-colored minimalist Beirut
Eye candy visuals of the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque with teal domes, a classic Lebanese home in Barbie pink, and vibrant facades of Saifi Village in the heart of Beirut’s center. This photo series, titled #minimalbeirut, is the result of a collaboration between photographer Matt Crump and Ryan Houssari, creative director at PLASTIK Magazine in Lebanon. Together, they change the image of the old ‘Paris of the Middle East’ with war-scarred buildings into a minimalist candyland.
