Al Qaeda establishing Islamic law amidst the fighting in Syria, with children whipped in secret prisons and adults executed on the order of 'sharia court' judges

Islamist organisations have e sta blished sharia law in north Syria

In control is the armed group Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)



ISIS detain children as young as eight and torture young teenagers

Adults are executed in public places in al-Raqqa and Aleppo



An armed Islamist organisation fighting on the rebel side has established sharia law in northern Syria, which has seen children whipped and adults executed in public, Amnesty International reports today.

The Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) control a large part of northern Syria, including the country's biggest city, Aleppo.

ISIS are in charge of at least seven 'detention centres' in the area where children as young as eight have been detained, young teens have been flogged, and adults executed after 'trials' lasting just minutes.

Al Qaeda group: A man holding the flag of Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) walks across a hill in a propaganda video for the organisation

ISIS, previously known as Al Qaeda in Iraq (AIQ), practice several forms of torture, including electric shocks and stress positions, and regular floggings with rubber generator belts or cables, in secret prisons in al-Raqqa and Aleppo

Several children were among detainees who received severe floggings, according to testimonies obtained by Amnesty International.

On one occasion, a father had to endure the screams of pain from his 13-year-old son who was being tormented by his captors in a nearby room.



Two other detainees related how they witnessed a child of about 14 receive a flogging of around 100 lashes during an interrogation at Sadd al-Ba’ath, an ISIS prison in al-Raqqa governorate.



Meanwhile, another child of who ISIS had accused of stealing a motorbike was flogged 30 or 40 times a day for several days.



Striking back: Residents carry an injured man that survived shelling from what activists say were government forces, in Takeek Al-Bab area of Aleppo, one controlled by ISIS

Some of those held by ISIS have been suspected of theft or other crimes, while others have been accused of 'crimes against Islam', which can include everything from smoking to sex outside marriage.

Others were seized for challenging ISIS’s rule or because they belonged to other armed groups fighting on the rebel side.



ISIS is also suspected of abducting and detaining foreign nationals, including journalists covering the fighting in Syria.

The news of ISIS's practices comes just days after a British man died in a Syrian prison, allegedly by his own hand.

Syrian officials claim Dr Abbas Khan, a 32-year-old surgeon from South London who had travelled to Aleppo to volunteer at a hospital, hanged himself just days before he was due to be freed on the order of President Bashar al-Assad.



The family of Dr Khan, a married father-of-two refute the claim that he would kill himself, and said he had been looking forward to coming home for Christmas.

Dr Khan was jailed by Syrian government forces in November last year, accused of entering the country without a visa, and spoke of months of torture at the hands of his captors.



The true victims: A Syrian woman carries children following airstrikes on a rebel area of the war-torn northern city of Aleppo

‘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,’ Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Director Philip Luther said.

‘Those abducted and detained by ISIS include children as young as eight who are held together with adults in the same cruel and inhuman conditions.

‘Flogging anyone, let alone children, is cruel and inhuman, and a gross abuse of human rights. ISIS should cease its use of flogging and other cruel punishments.'

ISIS also practice public executions following sharia ‘trials’ at the organisations seven identified detention centres, five in al-Raqqa and two in Aleppo.

A witness told Amnesty International workers how four men accused of fighting against ISIS were sentenced to death after trials that lasted barely a minute.

Executions are held in public places in towns in al-Raqqa governorate or near Aleppo.

At the Sadd al-Ba’ath prison, located near al-Mansura, he local sharia court judge has instituted a reign of terror, presiding over trials wearing an explosive belt.



Former detainees accuse him of presiding over grotesquely unfair ‘trials’, lasting no more than a few minutes, where he frequently hands down death sentences.



At his direction, detainees have been mercilessly flogged; on at least one occasion, he is said to have personally joined in the torture.

Mr Luther added: ‘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.