Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists are known for their totalitarian tactics, including raping and murdering ethnic minorities, forced conversions, and recruiting child soldiers.
But their offensive includes shocking psychological warfare on young captives as well, a CNN expose reveals - after one teenager, recently freed from the group, says the group is "right" about its extremist views even after fearing for his life during the abduction.
Marwan, 14, is a Kurdish schoolboy who was kidnapped on his way home from final exams. He was beaten and forced to watch brutal videos of beheadings and amputations - yet he insists that the ordeal was not a matter of intimidation, but of "re-education."
He even justified the group's lawlessness, claiming all is not what it seems.
"They don't just grab a random person off the street and execute him - only if they are infidels," Marwan justified.
"They are right. In their view the Kurdish fighters are all infidels... And they all are, because of the ISIS flag," he added - a reference to the fact that the flag itself contains the Islamic declaration of faith (shehada) "There is no God but Allah."