As Iraqi and international forces make preparations ahead of a final offensive on Mosul, the Islamic State’s stronghold in Iraq, and Russian forces continue their assault on Raqqa, IS’s Syrian “capital,” the radical organization’s propaganda apparatus is apparently trying to maintain an image of business as usual in its under-siege fiefdom.
IS published pictures of busy markets, stoning of suspected prostitutes, execution of a suspected traitor (above), and amputation of the legs of those who committed “immorality.”
In the IS-controlled Dijla region in Iraq, four suspected prostitutes were pictured being stoned in what the organization called “a religious commandment.” In the pictures, an IS operative is seen standing next to a pile of rocks and reading out the “indictment” in front of an angry mob, while the bystanders are then invited to stone the convicts, probably to death.
Similar pictures from Raqqa show the execution of a presumed collaborator with the US-led coalition or “the Crusader coalition” in IS’s words. Here too, after being read the “sentence” in front of an angry mob, the convict is crucified and stabbed in his chest, then shot in the head.
After the crucifixion, the body of the deceased is left hanging with a sign attached to him, saying: “This is the spy Muhamad Adnan, who gave away information about houses and military barracks with a view of having them bombed and their Muslim dwellers killed.”
In pictures emanating from Afghanistan’s Khorasan region, which is partly controlled by IS, the organization’s members are seen amputating the limbs of men suspected of “disturbing the peace on earth.”
It is unclear what offense they committed, but they were punished “in keeping with Sharia law,” the statement said.
But in Mosul, the “capital of the caliphate” in Iraq, IS labors to emphasize that life goes on as usual with pictures of the city’s busy markets, whose stalls are filled with fresh produce.