Now, I will share with you my 11 months of captivity. At twenty-two, I was the youngest hostage. My parents are no longer with me. I photograph in order to honor those who are about to pass away. Memories and what’s left are what I’m interested in. Edouard Elias was a war photographer who was captured and tortured in Syria by the Islamic State (IS) group between June 2013 and April 2014. It was evident from his opening remarks on Wednesday, February 19, before the Paris special criminal court, that his testimony would be significant.
His account of the insane dehumanization project that IS had established in its prototype state, which he wrote from inside Syrian prisons, is an intriguing piece of journalism. Despite the beatings, torture, lingering death odor, and lack of food, Elias patiently put together a modest, strict, and occasionally humorous testimony day after day. Throughout this journey to the end of hell, Elias never stopped being a journalist.
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Elias and his “partner,” reporter Didier François, had just crossed the Turkish-Syrian border on June 6, 2013, to report on Bashar al-Assad’suseof chemical weapons against his people, when the two journalists were apprehended by five armed jihadists. The nightmare started right away: the two men were “beaten mercilessly,” tied to radiators, and denied food for four days.
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