Smuggled video testimony documents harsh rule of Syrian Islamist group
Moving testimony of how a jihadi group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis), has imposed its own strict interpretation of sharia law has emerged in a series of video interviews smuggled out of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.
The group – which operated under the auspices of al-Qaida until it recently severed the association – gained full control the city after lethal clashes with other brigades in the Syrian opposition left hundreds of dead.
The group has also been one of the most prominent kidnappers of western journalists, a number of whom are reputedly being held in Isis prisons in Raqqa.
Although the brutal rule of Isis has been well documented – most recently in an Amnesty International report in December, which detailed killings, arbitrary trials and detention and the abuse of children as young as eight – the new interviews that have emerged provide an intimate and chilling depiction of day-to-day life under the group.
Since taking control of Raqqa the group has banned music, signing and smoking, with the threat of severe penalties for any violators including public flogging.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/19/smuggled-video-testimony-harsh-rule-of-syrian-islamista-raqqa