Page 8 The Skanner January 27, 2016
News
Inside the Caliphate: Islamic State’s Double Standards Sow Growing Disillusion
Public increasingly disillusioned with Daesh promises to install utopian state
GAZIANTEP, Turkey—
Mohammed Saad, a Syr-
ian activist, was impris-
oned by the Islamic State
group, hung by his arms
and beaten regularly.
Then one day, his jailers
quickly pulled him and
other prisoners down
and hid them in a bath-
room.
The reason? A senior
Muslim cleric was visit-
ing to inspect the facil-
ity. The cleric had told
the fighters running
the prison that they
shouldn’t torture prison-
ers and that anyone held
without charge must be
released within 30 days,
Saad told The Associat-
ed Press. Once the coast
was clear, the prisoners
were returned to their
torment.
“It’s a criminal gang
pretending to be a state,”
Saad said, speaking in
Turkey, where he fled
in October. “All this talk
about applying Shari-
ah and Islamic values is
just propaganda. Daesh
is about torture and kill-
ing,” he said, using the
AP PHOTO, FILE
By Hamza Hendawi
Associated Press
In this Nov. 24, 2014, file photo, Iraqi army soldiers deploy in front of a court run by the Islamic State group after regaining control of the
town of Sadiyah in Diyala province, 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Despite the atrocities that made it notorious, the Islamic
State group depicts itself as bringing a reign of justice and equality for Muslims under its radical version of Shariah law. But Syrians who have
escaped its rule say public disillusionment is growing with jihadi fighters who have become an elite class.
Arabic acronym for IS.
Syrians who have re-
cently escaped the Islam-
ic State group’s rule say
public disillusionment is
growing as IS has failed
to live up to its promis-
es to install a utopian
“Islamic” rule of justice,
equality and good gover-
nance.
Instead, the group has
come to resemble the
dictatorial rule of Syrian
President Bashar Assad
that many Syrians had
sought to shed, with a re-
liance on informers who
have silenced a fearful
populace. Rather than
equality, society has seen
the rise of a new elite
class — the jihadi fight-
ers — who enjoy special
perks and favor in the
courts, looking down on
“the commoners” and
even ignoring the rul-
ings of their own clerics.
Despite the atrocities
that made it notorious,
the Islamic State group
had raised hopes among
some fellow Sunnis
when it overran their
territories across parts
of Syria and Iraq and de-
“
against themselves or
family.
“Daesh justice has
been erratic,” said Nayef,
who hails from IS-held
eastern Syrian town of
al-Shadadi and escaped
to Turkey in November
with his family, largely
because military rever-
sals appear to have put
strains on its finances.
U.S. and Russian air-
strikes have heavily hit
its oil infrastructure — a
major source of funds.
Over the past year, the
group has lost 30 percent
of the territory it once
held in Iraq and Syria,
according to the U.S.-led
anti-IS coalition. Many of
those interviewed by the
AP said there are length-
ier cutoffs of water and
electricity in their towns
and cities and prices for
oil and gas have risen.
Abu Salem, an activist
from the eastern city of
Deir el-Zour, said public
acceptance of IS rule is
eroding. “It has made an
enemy of almost every-
one,” he told the AP in the
Turkish city of Reyhanli
on the Syrian border.
One sign of the dis-
tance between the claims
and realities is a 12-page
manifesto by IS detailing
its judicial system.
The document, a copy
All this talk about applying Shariah and Islam-
ic values is just propaganda. Daesh is about
torture and killing
clared a “caliphate” in the
summer of 2014. It pre-
sented itself as a contrast
to Assad’s rule, bringing
justice through its ex-
treme interpretation of
Shariah and providing
services to residents,
including loans to farm-
ers, water and electrici-
ty, and alms to the poor.
Its propaganda machine
promoting the dream
of an Islamic caliphate
helped attract jihadis
from around the world.
In Istanbul and sever-
al Turkish cities near
the Syrian border, the
AP spoke to more than a
dozen Syrians who fled
IS-controlled territory
in recent months. Most
spoke on condition they
be identified only by
their first names or by
the nicknames they use
in their political activism
for fear of IS reprisals
because of Russian air-
strikes. “They started off
good and then, gradually,
things got worse.” He in-
sisted that his last name
not be printed, fearing
for his safety.
The group has recruit-
ed informers in the
towns and cities it con-
trols to watch out for any
sign of opposition.
“Like under the (As-
sad) regime, we were
also afraid to talk against
Daesh to anyone we
don’t fully trust,” said
Fatimah, a 33-year-old
whose hometown of Pal-
myra was taken over by
IS early last year. She fled
to Turkey in November
with her husband and
five children to escape
Russian and Syrian air-
strikes.
IS has also become less
able to provide public
services, in large part
of which was obtained by
the AP, heavily empha-
sizes justice and toler-
ance. For example, it sets
out the duties of the His-
ba, the “religious police”
who ensure people ad-
here to the group’s dress
codes, strict separation
of genders and other
rules.
The escaped Syrians all
complained of the brutal
extremes that the Hisba
resorts to. One woman
who lived in
Raqqa said that if a
woman is considered to
have violated the dress
codes, the militants flog
her husband, since he is
seen as responsible for
her.
When her neighbor
put out the garbage
without being proper-
ly covered, she said, the
woman’s husband was
whipped.
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sends a THANK YOU to everyone who made
her 104th Birthday a wonderful memory.
We all love you so much!
We are truly blessed to have such
an amazing woman in our lives.