ISIS’ Libyan Affiliate Committing Atrocities, Including Crucifixion
- Updated May 18, 2016
An international rights group released a reported this week that detailed atrocities by Libya’s Islamic State soldiers.
According to SRNNews.com, Human Rights Watch said Sirte was seized by ISIS in February 2015 and has since beheaded dozens of residents who have been accused of being spies or sorcerers. There have also been reports of crucifixions.
The report, titled “We Feel We Are Cursed: Life under ISIS in Sirte, Libya,” said men have been flogged for listening to music or smoking. Fathers have been directed to “marry off their daughters” to ISIS’ fighters.
The report interviewed 45 Sirte residents.
“While the world’s attention is focused on atrocities in Syria and Iraq, ISIS is also getting away with murder in Libya,” said Letta Tayler, a senior terrorism and counterterrorism researcher at HRW, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.
After taking the city, ISIS seized public funds and implemented a charter that said women were forced to cover up and wear conservative black and not allowed to leave home without a male guardian. ISIS also imposed the “zakat” or religious tax.
U.S. military estimated in April that ISIS has about 6,000 fighters in Libya.
Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com
Publication date: May 18, 2016
