Black al-Qaeda Flags Over Mosul as Caliphate Edicts Rule Iraqi Lives

ISIS Flag In Iraq

The Islamist militants who swept into Mosul had a simple message for residents of the northern Iraqi city: The path to a caliphate comes with clear rules. Lots of them.

No smoking, drinking or drugs; prayer times should be respected. Women must stay indoors, or, if they have to go out, then respectable, baggy clothes are a must. Thieves will have their hands amputated. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant posted the guidelines on June 12 on websites used by jihadist groups. To cement its message, it hung the group’s black banner from a Mosul bridge and uploaded videos to the Internet showing what happens to “anyone who insists on apostasy” — execution.

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