Islamic State leaders have released a document listing a number of crimes and their appropriate punishments under Sharia law. The list applies to the Aleppo province of Syria, but IS has been enforcing the barbaric rules across the whole of the territory it rules.

According to the document, Islamic State is enforcing the gruesome rules as it wants the population to fear God, in order for them to “enter into His mercy”. Earlier this year the UN reported that children are not exempt from IS’s torturous regime, but have been crucified or buried alive alongside adults when found guilty of crimes including refusal to convert to Islam. Young people with mental disabilities have been used as suicide bombers or as human shields during battle.

Most of the punishments result in death. Stoning has been deemed the suitable punishment for adulterers; being thrown off a high building is the punishment of choice for gays, both “the penetrator and receiver”; crucifixion for those who blaspheme.

In a sign that Islamic State fears infiltration by its enemies, “spying for ‘disbelievers'” has also been awarded the death penalty. Other less severe punishments include the cutting off of hands for those who steal, a punishment which has been carried out by a standard industrial guillotine. Those who slander or drink wine can expect 80 lashes. Those who “terrorise the people” will be banished.

Last week, the anti-ISIS activist group Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered reported that IS has been imprisoning people for 10 days at a time for ‘crimes’ including wearing skinny jeans, having songs on mobile phones, smoking, and being late to prayer.

“These sanctions are volatile and updatable from time to another, but these updates are getting worse, people of Raqqa are really upset from those sanctions which are exercised against them,” said Hamood Almossa.

According to the Daily Mail, the IS document reads: “Therefore, the Islamic State, believing in God – Almighty and Exalted is He – who has sent down the Book, and regarding as kufr [disbelief] the nations united to wage war on the Lord of the Lords, and regarding as kufr [disbelief] the judgements / rulings put in place by those created from the soil, pledges to God – Almighty and Exalted is He – to rule by His Shari’a in His land among His servants even if the disbelievers hate it.

“Thus we would like to make clear to the people the hudud [religious punishments] of God- Almighty and Exalted is He- as a warning and deterrent.

“And indeed we make the people fear their Lord and call them to enter into His mercy by embracing His commands and adhering to His prohibition orders for that is the best outcome in that.

“And there is nothing better in the one judged if he does not submit to the law of the Lord and there is nothing better for the one who judges if he does not judge/rule his servants by the ruling of God.

“And indeed the Islamic State will not compromise on this great attainment for whose sake it has offered hundreds of martyrs from its pious and pure sons, but rather it has established the law of God among its soldiers, and it has brought judgements even of death without exception among them.”

Despite the harsh regime, 25,000 people have flocked to Islamic State to join up, a UN report has found. The vast majority, 20,000, come from Syria and Iraq, but 100 nations in all are represented.

On Tuesday IS launched an English language radio news bulletin service on it’s al-Bayan radio network. The first bulletin provided an overview of the State’s activities across Iraq, Syria and Libya, before going on to discuss a range of topical issues including the alleged death of an IS commander in Damascus, AP has reported.

Yet despite their projected image of success, the people living under their regimes are suffering from hunger and homelessness.

Abu Ibrahim Raqqawi, one of the founders of Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, posted images of queues for bread, reminiscent of scenes from Soviet life, on Twitter. “Lines waiting for some food. Yes this is the #ISIS State. Hunger, poverty and homelessness,” he commented.

“The city suffers from a shortage of electricity where the power goes off for 21 hours in the day,” he wrote in another tweet.