Pinned face down in the middle of the street by four rag-tag militants, the condemned man struggles for his life, screaming for help that bystanders dare not give. As an executioner looks on, his helpers finally manage to immobilise the victim - who has not even the scant comfort of a blindfold - with three on the man's body and a fourth pulling his head to expose his neck. In an instant the executioner swings a cruel, curved blade. The struggling abruptly ends and the sandy street beneath the condemned man is stained with a burst of crimson blood.
This was the gruesome scene that unfolded yesterday in Al-Shadadi, a town of 25,000 in north-east Syria, as Islamist militants enforced the hardline religious law of their self-styled Caliphate.
Dozens of bystanders watched the victim - whose crime is not known - as he screamed for help. But none dared intervene against the armed religious fanatics who now control their town.
The United Nations human rights watchdog last week warned that Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq had been meting out 'cruel and inhuman' punishments to victims accused of violating their interpretation of sharia law. The group had posted photos of two men being crucified for alleged banditry, women stoned to death after accusations of adultery, and men thrown from a tall building after claims they were homosexuals, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said. 'Educated, professional women, particularly women who have run as candidates in elections for public office seem to be particularly at risk,' said Ravina Shamdasani of the OHCHR. 'In just the first two weeks of this year, reports indicate that three female lawyers were executed.'Yesterday's execution in Al-Shadadi, the latest Islamic State atrocity to be captured on video, echoes similar scenes in Saudi Arabia last week where a woman was publicly beheaded as she screamed her innocence. An executioner in Mecca, the Islamic holy city, took two swings to hack off Layla bint Abdul Mutaleb Bassim's head, after she was found guilty raping her six-year-old daughter with a broomstick then beating her to death. The incident has sparked outrage in the country, but not because of the brutal punishment meted out. Rather Saudis were up in arms that the execution was filmed and posted online, where the woman's family might see it. Since Saudi Arabia's new King Salman was crowned last Friday three more people have been beheaded in the kingdom, bringing the number of executions carried out by the staunch U.S. ally this year up to 16, according to an AFP tally.
Under the previous king, Abdullah, the number of executions jumped from 27 in 2010 to around 80 annually, with 87 last year.
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