“Abu Nasr al-Tunisi” is the name the Tunisian jihadist chooses to introduce himself to Correspondents. We do not know if this is the name he was using in Syria, where he fought for a year and a half, or just a name that he randomly came up with when he met Correspondents. If he mentions his real name, he will never be able to join ISIS again and might end up in prison.

“Abu Nasr al-Tunisi” is the name the Tunisian jihadist chooses to introduce himself to Correspondents. We do not know if this is the name he was using in Syria, where he fought for a year and a half, or just a name that he randomly came up with when he met Correspondents. If he mentions his real name, he will never be able to join ISIS again and might end up in prison.

After nearly 17 months in Syria with the jihadist army Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Abu Nasr al-Tunis returned to Tunisia. He came back partly to take a break and take care of his private affairs, but partly because of the conflict among jihadist groups the al-Nusra Front and ISIS. He is not happy with the ongoing fighting between the two organizations, believing it was instigated by intelligence agencies to make Muslims fight fellow Muslims, scatter their energies and distract them from jihad, the reason that brought them to Syria.

Upon his return to Tunisia, he was held for questioning by security forces, a procedure applied to all those who return to Tunisia via Turkey. “I memorized every word I wanted to say during the interrogation,” he said. “I told them that I had become deluded and I only discovered that when I arrived in Turkey. I said I changed my mind and returned to Tunisia from Turkey without going to Syria.”

“I also told them that I stayed in Turkey to work, extending my stay from the day I left Tunisia until the day of my return,” he said. Abu Nasr even prepared his Facebook page to back up his claims, because he knew the investigators would check it.

Returning to Tunisia was a mistake

At first, he thought he would spend some time with his family before going back to fight with ISIS, but things did not go as planned. It was almost impossible to leave Tunisia again, which is why he regrets not complying with the instructions from ISIS leadership. These leaders normally advise Tunisians who want to leave Syria to “go to Libya, the best place for them to rest and get more training.”

When Correspondents asked Abu Nasr about the ISIS conditions for allowing fighters to return to their countries or leave the organization, he said that “things are not as people think. Everybody has the freedom to go back whenever he wants, as long as he has not assumed a leadership position in the organization, and he has not learned secrets and information that could be revealed to security men if arrested. These are the only two conditions set by the higher leadership for not allowing fighters to return.”

Even though Abu Nasr has been fighting with ISIS for more than a year, he still disagrees with it on a number of issues – particularly the recruitment of young people new to religion and who are often under 20 years of age. He believes that jihad is one of the highest echelons of faith, and therefore those who go to jihad should know all the details of the Islamic religion.

A different kind of life

“Many Tunisians in Syria have married and now have families,” said Abu Nasr. “They do not intend to return to Tunisia because they are living their new life there. Almost all the young men do not fight in the battle field. Their duties are to maintain weapons and transport them. They also have other duties that keep them from carrying guns and from the dangers of battle, which they are too young to face.”

Abu Nasr denied reports saying that Tunisians get abused by ISIS, that they are put in the front lines, and that ISIS’ biggest losses are Tunisian martyrs. “It is absolutely not true that we are treated with contempt,” he said. “We are treated in the same way other jihadists from all nationalities are treated.” He explained that Tunisians “are not in leadership positions because these are usually assumed by Iraqis, but we are not put in the front lines and my return healthy to my country is the best evidence of that.”

Tunisia is not a land of jihad

Abu Nasr’s social conditions are not bad. The 27-year-old’s family is relatively well-off. His father runs a driving school and Abu Nasr has a good education and job. His father bought him a taxi to help him make his living. Before the revolution, he was a Marxist, but then joined the radical right and ended up adopting the jihadist ideology.

Unlike other Tunisians, he never joined Tunisia’s Islamist group Ansar al-Shariah and was never trained in Tunisia or Libya before joining the jihad in Syria. He considers that Ansar al-Shariah deprived many Tunisians of the opportunity of freely practising their rituals. For him, “Tunisia is not a land of jihad. It is a land of preaching par excellence.”

Yearning to return

 Before joining ISIS, the jihadist Tunisian knew nothing about weapons and their use other than what he saw in videos and read in books. When he arrived in Syria, things changed. He was trained by Iraqis and he became a jihadi proficient in the use of weapons. “Most of the trainers and field leaders are Iraqis from Saddam’s army, which was dissolved after the Iraq war, and they are all proficient in the use of all kinds of weapons,” he said.

“Now I am a professional fighter,” he added. When ISIS declared the Islamic caliphate, “my desire to return increased.” But his name is on Tunisia’s list of returnees from jihad and it will not be easy for him to leave. And yet he misses ISIS and he yearns to return to Syria.