Sometimes, even the victims are the same. Of three liberal activists from the north Syrian city of Raqqa who spoke to The Telegraph, one, Jimmy Shahinian, was given the shabeh by the regime, every four days for four months; one, Hazm al-Hussein, was given the shabeh by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The third, who lives in such fear even now he is in exile that he asked only to be known as Samir, was tortured by both the regime and Isil.