The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) – the al-Qaida-affiliated group in Syria – has been accused of widespread human rights abuses including torture and summary killings in the first detailed account of the conditions in the areas it controls.
Among documented victims of ISIS are children as young as 13 who have been subjected to repeated floggings and other abuses, while eight-year-olds have been detained.
In a report prepared by Amnesty International the group is charged with running a regime of terror in the secret prisons that it operates both in al-Raqqa governorate and in Aleppo which it operates under its own version of sharia law.
Detailing violence against minors, the reports describes the case of one child whom ISIS had accused of stealing a motorbike who was flogged 30 or 40 times a day for several days.
It also detailed cases of death penalties being handed down in hearings at sharia courts lasting less than a minute.
In one of the most chilling parts of the report, witnesses described the ISIS judge's practice of sitting in judgment wearing an explosive suicide belt at the Sadd al-Ba'ath prison at al-Mansura. The group accuses the judge of a reign of terror over the prison's detainees.
Among those held in the ISIS prisons are known to be a number of foreign journalists kidnapped by the group.
The report comes amid growing concern among western diplomats over the rising strength of Islamist groups among the Syrian opposition, which now threaten to eclipse the Free Syrian Army.
Identifying seven separate prisons run by the group, and accusing it of abuses amounting to war crimes, Amnesty called on states in the Gulf whose citizens are backing ISIS – and Turkey – to take action to prevent the flow of arms and recruits to the jihadi group.
People who had been held at ISIS detention centres told Amnesty researchers of a shocking catalogue of violence including beatings with cables.
Some of those held by ISIS were suspected of theft or other crimes, while others were accused of "crimes" against Islam, such as smoking cigarettes or sex outside marriage. Amnesty International's Middle East and north Africa director, Philip Luther, said: "After years in which they were prey to the brutality of the al-Assad regime, the people of al-Raqqa and Aleppo are now suffering under a new form of tyranny imposed on them by ISIS, in which arbitrary detention, torture and executions have become the order of the day.
"Gulf states that have voiced support for the armed groups fighting against the Syrian government should take action to prevent arms flows, equipment or other support reaching ISIS in view of its appalling human rights record."
He added: "The Turkish government, in particular, should prevent its territory being used by ISIS to bring in arms and recruits to Syria."
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