Videos reveal life inside Iraqi city under IS rule

A year after IS militants captured Mosul, activists have released secretly-filmed videos showing life inside Iraq's second biggest city.

Demonstrators chant pro-Islamic State group, slogans as they carry the group's flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, northwest of Baghdad (AP Photo, File)

Demonstrators chant pro-Islamic State group (AP Photo, File) Source: AP

The videos, obtained by the BBC, show mosques being blown up, Christian houses seized and locked up, abandoned schools, and residents forced to follow the group's extreme interpretation of Islamic law.
 
The first series of videos show women being forced to cover themselves in black from head to toe. A woman is even chastised by a man on the street for not wearing gloves.
 
Mosul resident, Hanaa, describes wearing a niqab when she visited a restaurant with her husband. When she took it off at her table to reveal her face, the restaurant owner instantly approached her.
 
"(He) came over begging my husband to ask me to hide it again because Islamic State fighters made surprise inspection visits and he would be flogged if they saw me like that," she told the BBC.
 
"We had heard stories of men being flogged because their wives didn't put their gloves on. Another woman's parents were banned from driving their car. Those who objected would be beaten and humiliated."
The footage also reveals how fuel is in short supply in Mosul, and many of its schools have been closed.
 
Everything from construction sites to neighbourhoods once occupied by ethnic and religious minorities lay abandoned.
 
Mariam, a Christian gynaecologist, said she had no choice by to flee Mosul once it fell. Her house was one of many seized by the militants, and later heard her collection of books had been emptied out into the street.
 
"I escaped with my body unharmed, but my soul remained where I had left it: at home with my books," she said.
 
The militants are also seen moving heavy artillery, including tanks and other weapons taken from fleeing Iraqi forces. Some even hide under under bridges as they launch anti-aircraft attacks.
Theft is punished by amputating a hand, adultery by men by throwing the offender from a high building, and adultery by women by stoning to death.

Shia mosques and shrines are seen being razed to the ground by the militants, who claim they violate the "Laws of the Caliphate".
 
One resident says the minimum punishment is flogging, and it can be for something as minor as smoking a cigarette.
 
"Theft is punished by amputating a hand, adultery by men by throwing the offender from a high building, and adultery by women by stoning to death," he said. "The punishments are carried out in public to intimidate people, who are often forced to watch."
 
One man said he was arrested by IS after they couldn't find his brother.
 
"Then they tortured me," he said. "The guy who did it wouldn't stop unless he got tired. He was edgy all the time and he wouldn't listen to what his prisoners said. He flogged me with a power cable and also tortured me psychologically."
 
He said he remained in prison even after the claims against his brother were found to be false.

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