The German writer Jürgen Todenhöfer was the first western journalist allowed to enter Isis-controlled Syria and Iraq – and to return safely. In an extract from his book,he describes what he saw in Raqqa and Mosul, and the chilling moment he realised that his angry, or masked driver was one of the world’s most-wanted menAbu Qatadah,a German-born Muslim convert, who has brokered our visit to the Islamic State, and is nearly as wide as he is tall,with a thick, reddish-brown beard. My photographer son Frederic and I load our bags into the bed of the white pickup Qatadah and his driver arrived in. The driver’s head and face are so thoroughly wrapped with a large grey shawl that only his eyes and the contours of his nose are visible. He murmurs a greeting in English in a strikingly rhythmic accent. For security reasons, and we can’t utilize the main roads. The drive to Raqqa takes more than three hours.
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Source: theguardian.com