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Syria's
ISIS Crucifying Opponents, Justifying Horror with Quran Passages
by Jonathan Spyer and
Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi
PJ Media
May 27, 2014
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Evidence is mounting that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
is systematically committing atrocities in eastern and northern Syria,
its areas of control.
While individual incidents of brutality have been well-documented, the
near-impossibility of on-the-spot reporting in the area controlled by the
organization has made it difficult to build a general description of the
situation there. However, as more and more witnesses come forward, the
picture is gradually becoming clearer.
Public executions are a regular weekly occurrence in Raqqa city, the
provincial capital controlled by ISIS. In a number of verified cases, the
bodies of executed people have been "crucified" — placed on
crosses in public areas after execution by other means, supposedly to act
as a deterrent to others. (Note: at least one crucifixion of a living
victim by an Islamist group has occurred recently, in Yemen.Video here.)
ISIS invoked Qur'an 5:33 in a case of two people being crucified
in Raqqa for supposedly carrying out an IED attack against ISIS. The
Quran passage stipulates that, among a number of punishments, those who
"wage war on God and His Messenger" may be crucified.
An earlier case in Raqqa in late March was also
justified as the appropriate penalty for alleged stealing and murder,
though it was not officially advertised by ISIS. The case seems to fall
under the same framework of Quran 5:33, which also mentions
"striving to cause corruption on Earth" as an offense that can
warrant crucifixion.
Crucifixions are by no means the exclusive realm of ISIS: they can
also be carried out in Saudi Arabiafor crimes such as terrorism and highway
robbery. The issue is that ISIS is defining itself as the one and only
true Islamic state; in their view, waging war on ISIS thus constitutes
waging war on "God and His Messenger."
For ISIS, Raqqa — often described in ISIS circles as the
"capital" of ISIS — is very much the prototype model Islamic
city, where aspects of Islamic law are first introduced and are then
spread to other areas of ISIS-held territory. (Their territory currently
encompasses all major urban areas in Raqqa province, eastern Aleppo
province, and most of southern and central Hasakah province). The
crucifixions are a case-in-point: once implemented officially in Raqqa,
the practice then spread to other ISIS strongholds, most notably the
Aleppo provincial towns of Maskanah and Manbij.
As in Raqqa, those subjected to crucifixion are suspected of having
had ties to rival underground rebel groups trying to undermine ISIS with
clandestine attacks. In Maskanah, the crucifixion was presented as the
"punishment for apostasy" for one of three
alleged "shabiha" members.
By invoking apostasy, ISIS likely is referencing this hadith, where it is stipulated that one of the
cases in which a Muslim's blood may be lawfully shed is for fighting
against God and His Messenger (similar to Qur'an 5:33). In this case, the
punishment is crucifixion or exile. The crime in question has been
interpreted to be apostasy.
Also in Raqqa, Christians have had the first dhimmi pact from ISIS imposed upon them.
Christians there are required to pay a special tax (jizya) to
the ISIS authorities. Christians may not publicly wear crosses, pray in
the presence of Muslims, or repair or renovate places of worship. As with
the crucifixions, ISIS invoked Qur'anic justification for imposing the
dhimmi pact: Qur'an 9:29. (This invocation was largely overlooked in
prior media coverage of this development.) ISIS later announced that
arrangements were underway for the imposition of the dhimmi pact on
Christians in Hasakah province living under ISIS dominion.
Last month, a group of activists in Raqqa city formed a group called
"Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently" with hopes of spreading
information about the city's current condition. The 20 members of the
group were then sentenced to death by ISIS for "non-belief in
Islam." A large cash prize has been offered by ISIS for information
leading to their capture.
The horror gets worse: the most shocking evidence of brutality comes
from witnesses to the jails maintained by ISIS.
Perwer Janfrosh, a 25-year-old Syrian Kurd from the city of Kobani,
was arrested by ISIS while attempting to cross the Syrian-Turkish border.
He was held for five days in an ISIS jail in the town of Jarabulus in
northern Syria.
Janfrosh claims to have witnessed the torture and killing of a Kurdish
man for the "crime" of raising the flag of the Kurdish YPG
militia in the town, and also the torture of Arab residents of the town
who had been arrested for drinking alcohol.
Said al-Adlubi, a Syrian Arab refugee and former fighter with the Free
Syrian Army, told the "Rescue Christians" organization that he
witnessed the slaughter of kidnapped Christians in ISIS captivity who
were killed because ransom had not been paid.
Adlubi also said he had seen a gruesome mortuary maintained by ISIS,
where the corpses of slaughtered prisoners were hung on hooks. Rescue
Christians spoke with a second witness — Kamil Toume, a Syrian Christian
and former prisoner of ISIS — who confirmed Adlubi's account of the
"slaughterhouses."
Janfrosh and Adlubi both spoke of being described as
"apostates" by their ISIS captors. Apostasy is a crime
punishable by death according to Sharia law.
The brutality of ISIS ultimately is no surprise: the group already considers itself a state (dawla), not
a mere group or organization (jamaat, or tanzim). Those
descriptors are considered insulting by ISIS. ISIS intends to establish
itself for the long-run, and is not open to power-sharing, compromise, or
accountability at the hands of arbitration by a third-party.
Totalitarianism is thus the natural consequence, as is the wider
infighting between ISIS and other rebel groups across many parts of
Syria. Most notably, intense fighting has occurred with Syria's official
al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra, as ISIS seeks to connect Anbar
province in western Iraq with its territorial holdings in Syria.
Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the Global Research
in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and a fellow at the Middle East
Forum. Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a student at Brasenose College, Oxford
University, and a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Related
Topics: Radical Islam, Syria | Jonathan Spyer
| Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi
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