Islamist gangs are using violence and intimidation to enforce Shariah law in parts of Germany, particularly against Chechen and Chechen-origin women in Berlin, according to reports.

Der Taggespiegel reports that a threatening video of an armed man in a hood has been circulating in the Chechen community since March 2017 through the WhatsApp messaging service.

“Here, in Europe, certain Chechen women and men who look like women do unspeakable things. You know it; I know it; everybody knows it,” declares the pistol-waving fanatic.

“[Chechen women] who flirt with men of other ethnic groups and marry them, Chechen women who have chosen the wrong path and those [creatures] who call themselves Chechen men – given half a chance, we will set all of them straight.

“Having sworn on the Quran, we go out onto the streets. This is our declaration of intent; do not say that you were not warned; do not say that you did not know.”

The rough justice meted out by Berlin’s shariah enforcers was described by a female victim in an interview with Meduza, a Latvia-based news organisation.

The woman described how Islamists recorded her walking down the street with a non-Chechen man and later showed up at her house. She managed to conceal herself but the man was seized and brutally beaten, losing most of his teeth.

“Why does my private life concern [them] at all?” she asked. “I don’t know them. I don’t want to. I’m not their sister or daughter. My private life is no one else’s business.”

‘Transgressions’ can include acts as simple as attending mainstream German schools, where sex education classes are part of the curriculum. Many women and girls who would prefer to adopt a more Western lifestyle say they keep to some of the trappings of Islamic tradition to try and escape the Islamists’ attention, but covering up is not always an adequate precaution.

“Even in a hijab, I was called a prostitute, for instance, for wearing eye make-up. And I thought: ‘Who am I trying to please?’” said one girl.

“To gain everyone’s respect, you need to put on a headscarf, lower your eyes, and never leave home. But who would want such a life?” asked another.

Both agreed they could not “stand the hypocrisy of leading a double life”.

Meduza cites a Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung estimate that 36,000 Chechens have entered Germany over the past five years.