IS lectures prisoners in al-Bab before release

ISLAMIC LECTURE: During a moment of publicized clemency, a member of the Islamic State (IS) delivers a sermon to prisoners released from an IS detention facility in the Aleppo suburb of al-Bab.

IS supporters circulated this photo Wednesday with the caption: “One of the brothers gives a speech to the released prisoners and preaches to them before they’re let go.” IS has specified that the to-be-released are those who committed crimes that do not warrant hudud punishments (which include theft, adultery, murder, among others).

IS took over the city of al-Bab in January 2014, which had previously been under the control of various FSA factions, primarily Ahrar a-Sham and Liwa al-Tawheed. IS promptly set up several detention centers in the town, including one in the former al-Jabal Hospital.

IS reportedly filled the prisons with FSA and Jabhat a-Nusra fighters, as well as civilians who had committed various crimes under the IS’s strict code. Depending on the crimes committed and the factions the prisoners belonged to, punishments ranged from rehabilitation sermons, to torture, and even summary execution, according to an exposé by pro-opposition outlet All4Syria.

August 7, 2014

For more from Syria Direct, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.