After driving for around 40 minutes past the last Peshmerga checkpoint, we came to another checkpoint. And when we saw the black flag of ISIS we knew that we had reached their area. The checkpoint was only a few kilometres outside of the Hawija district. Two masked men waved the car down and came towards us.
The taxi I was in had two other passengers, a Sunni Muslim man and woman, and they were not afraid about coming here because they were originally from Hawija.
When the men got to the car, one of them asked me why I was going into Hawija; I quickly pulled out my art school ID and said I needed to pick up my graduation certificate so I could apply for a job. The masked man told me that the art school was actually closed and that there are no new jobs going in Kirkuk. So why are you picking it up and what are you actually going to do with it?, he asked.
I explained that I knew some of the art school staff and that they were going to help me get a job.
He checked my ID card again, carefully, and then he gave me a copy of the Koran. He gave the other passengers a Koran too. “May God be with you,” he said and let us pass.
Haider, our taxi driver, who drives this road almost every day, said that from the very first day that ISIS took over they had been giving out copies of the Koran to each and every one of his passengers.
As we entered Hawija the first thing we saw was the building that was formerly used by the Iraqi army’s 12th Division. A large sign now hangs over the main entrance, reading “ISIS – Secret Operations Room” in big white letters. According to Iraqi Kurdish officials, ISIS now has an intelligence section so it can better monitor its rivals’ operations.
We didn’t stop driving. We passed by many buildings. One of them was the art school where I had studied. There was no sign on the building but masked and unmasked gunmen surrounded it. I asked what had happened to the art school and was told that ISIS had turned the school into a detention centre where members of the police and army and other locals were imprisoned.
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