chargement...
Brutal and bureaucratic are two adjectives chosen by two of New York Times’ reporters to describe life under ISIS’ black flag. Based on a number of exclusive documents issued by the «Islamic State in Iraq and Syria» in Mosul, the American newspaper revealed the ugly details of some militants’ lives there.
A Moroccan fighter was on the list of the retrieved records tracing how several ISIS «citizens» lived, fought and earned a living in the caliphate. A letter signed on the 19th of June 2016, by Tariq al-Bozaidy al-Alami, a Moroccan militant, was one of the documents reported by the same source.
al-Alami and as indicated in the letter was one of the organization’s suicide bombers assigned to «fill out a form» expressing their will of fighting till death. In his application, he «directed ISIS to pay $600 to a family in Morocco», said New York Times.
Knowing that he is going to die, he was forced to give the money a family owes him in his home land in order to enter paradise.
A brutal lifestyle
Fighting for the organization was not the only activity people living in Mosul were doing. In fact, they had also to work in order to pay their heavy taxes. According to the same documents, farmers had to pay rent in order to exploit lands ISIS took from «non-believers» (Shia Muslims).
By the beginning of every planting season, farmers were given a numbered receipt to harvest and had to grant 10 percent of their harvest to the government. «The religious tax» was not the only step taken to comply by the rules as the farmers had to wait for a go-ahead to sell the rest of the harvest.
Moroccans who joined ISIS alongside other nationals living in the conflicted area since 2014, had to abide by other rules drafted in the City Charter. The latter was a document handed over to militants. «It spelled out new rules : no smoking, drinking or stealing. Women had to be veiled. Prayer times were to be strictly observed», said the same source.
«Be happy and enjoy the good life under the Islamic rule that is just and fair, and rejoice on the land where Muslims have the upper hand», said the charter. By signing the latter people agreed to accept the punishment the government finds suitable.
These living conditions listed by the collected documents have definitely been experienced by the 1664 Moroccans who have decided to join the terror group.
Official numbers made public by BCIJ’s director Abdelhak Khiam in September 2017 suggest that 929 of the 1664 people that went to the region belong to ISIS. The latter has recruited 285 Moroccan women to join its ranks in Syria and Iraq, said Khiam, adding that 52 among them had returned to the kingdom.
Moreover, 569 Moroccan fighters were killed during the fightings, most of them in Syria, while 213 left the combat areas, he concluded.
