In addition to Twitter, another social media heavily used by jihadis is the content-sharing website Justpaste.it; after posting the photos, videos, or other content there, the user then tweets the link to share it.
On February 17, 2015, the Aleppo province of the Islamic State (ISIS) released several images showing two men having their right hands amputated as punishment following their conviction for theft. The incident took place in the town of Dar Al-Fath in Aleppo province, Syria. The sentence was carried out "under the supervision of a specialized medical team" in front of large crowd that included children. ISIS notes that the public display was meant as a lesson and deterrent to others.[52]
Below are images from the event:
On March 2, 2015, the Al-Raqqah province of the Islamic State (ISIS) released several images showing a man having his hand amputated after being convicted of theft.[53] Below are images:
Tweet: "Establishing hadd on a thief"
(@1Dawlah____, October 7, 2015)
Justpaste.it Photo Album
Images of hand amputations in Al-Raqqah were posted online on February 28, 2015, on the jihadi content-sharing website Nasher.me, which is similar to Justpaste.it.[54]
"Islamic State 'Caliphate Upon the Path of Prophethood'
"Ninawa Province media office presents
"Pictorial report 6 || implementing the hadd for stealing"
"Muslims gather to watch the hudud implementation"
"Taking care of the medical aspect prior to implementing the hadd"
"The Exalted said: '[As for] the thief, the male and the female, amputate their hands in recompense for what they committed as a deterrent [punishment] from Allah. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.
"Disinfecting the cut and applying bandages over it by a specialized physician"
"Disinfecting the cut and applying bandages over it by a specialized physician"
"Ninawa Province media office, 9 of Jumada Al-Awwal 1436.
"Total views: 13, 124
"Views today: 892
"Publishing date: February 28, 2015."
"Carrying Out Punishment On 2 Criminals For Banditry While Posing As IS Members"
(@Anbaari13, January 10, 2015)
Series Of Photos Of Amputation Posted On JustPaste.it, December 19, 2014[55]
"Media office of Aleppo province
"Presents
"Pictorial report
"Implementing the hadd of cutting a thief's hand in the town of Al-Bab after the Friday prayer in front of the general Muslim"
"Implementing the hadd of cutting a thief's hand in the town of Al-Bab after Friday prayers"
"Implementing the hadd of cutting a thief's hand in the town of Al-Bab after Friday prayers"
"Implementing the hadd of cutting a thief's hand in the town of Al-Bab after Friday prayers"
"Implementing the hadd of cutting a thief's hand in the town of Al-Bab after Friday prayers"
"Implementing the hadd of cutting a thief's hand in the town of Al-Bab after Friday prayers"
"Implementing the hadd of cutting a thief's hand in the town of Al-Bab after Friday prayers"
"Implementing the hadd of cutting a thief's hand in the town of Al-Bab after Friday prayers"
"Implementing the hadd of cutting a thief's hand in the town of Al-Bab after Friday prayers"
"Media office of Aleppo province - 1436"
Series of two tweets of amputation: "1/2 The Islamic court in the Manbej area [in Aleppo Governorate, Syria] sentencing two thieves by implementing Allah's hadd [Islamic religious punishment] on 'them. #Islamic State in Iraq and Syria"
"Islamic court in the area of Manbij rules regarding two thieves in implementing Allah's hadd on them. #Islamic_State_In_Iraq_And_Syria" (@Wilaiat_Halab, June 6, 2014)
Image: "Implementing the hadd for stealing on two Muslims / Manbij area"; Caption: ""Islamic court in the area of Manbij rules regarding two thieves in implementing Allah's hadd on them. #Islamic_State_In_Iraq_And_Syria" (@Wilaiat_Halab, June 6, 2014)
Image: "Implementing the hadd for stealing on two Muslims / Manbij area"; Caption: ""Islamic court in the area of Manbij rules regarding two thieves in implementing Allah's hadd on them. #Islamic_State_In_Iraq_And_Syria" (@Wilaiat_Halab, June 6, 2014)
Image: "Implementing the hadd for stealing on two Muslims / Manbij area"; Caption: ""Islamic court in the area of Manbij rules regarding two thieves in implementing Allah's hadd on them. #Islamic_State_In_Iraq_And_Syria" (@Wilaiat_Halab, June 6, 2014)
Image: "Implementing the hadd for stealing on two Muslims / Manbij area"; Caption: ""Islamic court in the area of Manbij rules regarding two thieves in implementing Allah's hadd on them. #Islamic_State_In_Iraq_And_Syria" (@Wilaiat_Halab, June 6, 2014)
Second tweet: "2/2 And implementing the hadd [Islamic religious punishment] were specialized physicians, and [it was applied] in Martyrs Square in the middle of Manbej city in front of the Muslim public"
(@Wilaiat_Halab, June 6, 2014)
(@Wilaiat_Halab, June 6, 2014)
(@Wilaiat_Halab, June 6, 2014)
(@Wilaiat_Halab, June 6, 2014)
(@Wilaiat_Halab, June 6, 2014)
Series of three tweets of hand amputation: "Aleppo province - Maskana, implementing the hadd [Islamic religious punishment] for theft on the brother Zakaria after he admitted to stealing, and he also requested that his hand be cut off to cleanse his sins."
(@reyadiraq, February 28, 2014)
Second tweet: "Aleppo province - Maskana, implementing the hadd [Islamic religious punishment] for theft on the brother Zakaria after he admitted to stealing, and he also requested that his hand be cut off to cleanse his sins."
(@reyadiraq, February 28, 2014)
Third tweet
(@reyadiraq, February 28, 2014)
"[and cut off the hands of the [male and female] thieves] #Islamic State in Iraq and Syria implements the hadd [Islamic religious punishment] for theft in Aleppo"
(@a_s_m2010, May 9, 2014)
Appendix II: Executions On Social Media - Burning, Stoning, Shooting
Attaching fuses and blowing up prisoners
(@tkibrahimkhalil, August 11, 2015)
Tweeted Photos Of ISIS's Nazi-Style Mass Executions Of Shi'ites In Iraq[56]
(@Obeidamed_k5, June 8, 2015)
Enforcing Shari'a In Syria And Iraq, ISIS Stones Women To Death For Adultery
In addition to beheadings, content posted by ISIS of its members stoning women to death is also circulating on social media.
On January 15, 2015, ISIS released via Twitter a collection of photos from Ninawa, Iraq showing the stoning of a woman convicted of adultery.[57]
The convicted woman's sentence is read.
ISIS members stoning the woman to death.
Photos of the stoning of a "married adulterer" in Aleppo governorate posted in Justpaste.it were tweeted on January 13, 2015: "Wilayaat Aleppo Carrying Out Punishment Of Stoning On Married Adulterer In Abu Qalqal"
(@anbaari13, January 13, 2015)
A video posted on the Internet on October 21, 2014 shows the stoning of a woman accused of adultery in the Hama area, Syria. An ISIS official conducts the proceedings, telling her, "You are the first woman in this area on whom we are implementing the punishment of stoning for adultery. We hope that this will serve as a lesson for other women."
The video continues with the woman being placed in a pit and stoned to death by her father and other men present (view this clip on MEMRI TV here).
A tweet linking to content on Justpaste.it, dated October 6, 2015, showed the stoning to death of a married man for fornication:
"Implementing hadd on a married man guilty of fornication"
(@1Dawlah____, October 6, 2015)
"#Caliphate_State #Al_Furat_Province 'Implementation of Allah's ruling on a corruptor in the land'"
(@stat__3)
Another tweet with a link to a Justpaste.it page showed the execution, by being "thrown from height," of a homosexual man.
"Applying had on sodomites - thrown from height."
(@1Dawlah____)
Photos posted online on July 18, 2014 by an ISIS Twitter account in Syria claimed to show the stoning of a woman accused of adultery in Al-Raqqah Governorate. The stoning apparently took place at the local market in the town of Al-Tabaqa.[58] It was reported also that a second woman was stoned on similar charges in Al-Raqqa less than 24 hours later. While the images did not show the actual killing of the woman, they showed a large group of men, whom ISIS referred to as a group of "believers," gathered at the location. One image shows a man who appears to be reading the sentence aloud to the crowd, and another shows the men participating in the stoning. According to one report, the woman was a 26-year-old widow from the town of Al-Tabaqa.[59] Below are the images posted on the Twitter account:
(@albokmalisiam, July 18, 2014)
Announcing the sentencing to the crowd of "believers"
Large gathering of men at the scene
Men participating in the stoning
Less than 24 hours after the first stoning incident, ISIS reportedly sentenced and killed another woman accused of adultery in Al-Raqqah city. According to the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights, the second stoning took place near the city's stadium. It also said that ISIS fighters had to bring a "car full of stones" to the scene after residents of the city refused to participate in the act.[60]
Kirkuk province: "Hanging dead bodies of the Rafidi [Shi'ite] Popular Mobilization criminals so that they become a lesson to those after them"
(nasher.me/shifa2/, March 8, 2015)
January 3, 2015 - Jabhat Al-Nusra Executes Woman Convicted of Prostitution[61]
ISIS Burns Shi'ite Militia Members, Tweets Photos And Video
On August 31, 2015, the Islamic State press offices tweeted a video showing the murder of members of an Iraqi Shi'a militia in the region of Anbar, Iraq. The men, charged with espionage, were forced to confess their "crimes" on camera, and were then sentenced to death. They were bound and strung up above gas lines and burned alive
Abu Maryam Al-Shami tweeted: "[He] condemned that the lions of battles who flog the Khawarij i.e. ISIS have beheaded one ISIS member, but we haven't seen him condemning [ISIS] for burning, drowning and bombing of the Mujahideen. One side." (@omar_alsh3my, August 31, 2015)
(@albttaaar_16)
(@PhobiaTerro)
In YouTube Video, Masked Men, Allegedly From ISIS, Burn Three Captives To Death As Punishment For "Heinous Act"
A video posted to YouTube in late June 2014 showed masked men identified as ISIS members burning three men alive; the captives had, according to one of the masked men, committed "a heinous act" and were being harshly punished for it.
(Youtube.com/watch?v=g71Y2F07kxQ, accessed June 27, 2014)
"Implementing had to a sodomite in the city of Tal Afar"
(@1Dawlah____, October 7, 2015)
"Hasbunallah wa ni'mal wakeel! [Allah suffices us, for He is the best disposer of affairs]. So called Khilafah slaughters Muslims. On Whose methodology is this Khilafah built upon?"
(@SaqrAnsaar)
"A photo of the man that was executed (and his eye removed) yesterday in Sa'a (Clock) roundabout in #Raqqa"
(@TahrirSy, May 1, 2014)
"A picture of the thug with the regime and [a picture of him] after his execution, Oh praise to Allah #Islamic State in Iraq and Syria #Homs [Syria] Governorate"
(@w_homs1, June 2, 2014)
Child Publicly Executed By ISIS In Deir Al-Zour, Syria
(Firas Media Network, May 29, 2014; Youtube.com/watch?v=3Hmto7l5p7o)
ÔÇï"Execution of two criminals apostates and is an example for those who are behind them"
Text across image: "Pictures from the Assad Allah Al-Bilawi 'Abu 'Abd Al-Rahman' raid - Ninawa wilaya" (@AbuBakrAl_Janab)
"#ISIS executioner in #AlBab #Syria"
(@AbuBakAljanabi, April 9, 2014)
"And the retribution against him was implemented - may Allah have mercy on him - while he raised his index finger surrendering to the rule of Allah. We ask that Allah accept his repentance."
(@albaraka_news, May 10, 2014)
"#Pictures from Kirkuk Governorate [Iraq] #Islamic State in Iraq and Syria"
(@Kirkuk_ISIS, June 11, 2014)
"Implementing the hadd [Islamic religious punishment] on a thug belonging to the Nusairi [Alawite/Assad] regime after revealing his sentences to the people #Islamic State in Iraq and Syria"
(@w_homs1, June 2, 2014)
Series of tweets: "1/4 The Islamic Court in Al-Bab [Syria] sentenced yesterday Friday to death two [men] for apostasy, and another for hiraba [a crime warranting Islamic religious punishment], and they [are]:"
(@Wilaiat_Halab, June 7, 2014)
"2/4 Barakat Yassin, for fighting the Islamic State and giving information and coordinates of headquarters and the whereabouts of members of the Islamic State"
(@Wilaiat_Halab, June 7, 2014)
"He admitted to slaughtering children and raping a number of Muslim women, so the soldiers of Allah avenged them. Lions of the #Islamic State in Iraq and Syria #Homs Governorate"ÔÇï
(@w_homs1)
ÔÇïÔÇï"Implementing the hadd [Islamic religious punishment] on a thug belonging to the Nusairi [Alawite/Assad] regime, after revealing the ruling regarding him to the people... #Islamic State in Iraq and Syria"
(@w_homs1)
"The arrest and elimination of two elements working in the apostasy service (2).ÔÇï #Islamic State in Iraq and Syria"
(@Kirkuk_ISIS)
"The #Islamic Court in #Al-Shaddad [Al-Hasaka Province, Syria] implemented the punishment against a man who insulted Allah, His messenger, and the religion of Islam, by killing him"
On sign man on right is holding: "The crime - Insulting God and the religion and the Messenger; and his punishment is death" (@albaraka_news)
"The Islamic court in the Manbej area sentencing two apostates with death. #Islamic State in Iraq and Syria"
(@Wilaiat_Halab, June 7, 2014)
(@Wilaiat_Halab, June 7, 2014)
(@Wilaiat_Halab, June 7, 2014)
"Digging his own grave, so take a lesson, oh young men of Syria"
Across the image: "Hunters of the Awakening" (@alhaber1, June 4, 2014)
"Iraq, Anbar: 2 Sahwa [Awakening] members digging their own graves after being captured by ISIS"
(@Dawla_NewsMedia)
* Steven Stalinsky is Executive Director of MEMRI; R. Sosnow is Head Editor at MEMRI; M. Khayat is a Research Fellow at MEMRI.
