A fighter. A returnee. A rehabilitated terrorist. An ex-recruiter. A former prisoner.

Five stories of five people and their experiences of violent extremism.

  • Intro
  • Rahma
  • Amir
  • Kairul
  • Odin
  • Ahmad

“Around the time we joined the caliphate, we had been at the lowest point of our lives…”

“I thought of religion as the way to find meaning, and after the first Bali bombing, I became interested in jihad…”

“I met the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, Abdullah Sunkar, when I was a teenager…”

"When ISIS came here, they approached me, but I didn’t give them assurances that I would join them straight away…"

“When the war broke out in Syria I felt angry inside and I wanted to do something about it…”