Inside ISIS territory: Horrors of life as a human shield

HOTNEWS - Iraq (CNN)When ISIS came to Abu Israa's village, he did not flee.

His mother is elderly and can barely walk, and so when the militants urged people to stay, his family chose to remain in their home.

At first, ISIS's fighters promised they would keep to themselves. But soon life in the village, in Nineveh province, had become a living hell, with brutal punishments and fines meted out for minor infractions, and the constant threat of execution hanging over the population.

Abu Israa (not his real name) says the militants used him and other civilians as human shields, and would not allow them to leave.

Abu Israa and his family endured two years of life under ISIS control

He has asked us to conceal his identity, explaining that while he is now safe, in a new temporary home at the Digba refugee camp, he still has relatives at the mercy of ISIS.

"I don't want to lose more than I already have," he says.

ISIS fighters threatened Abu Israa's daughter when they spotted her in the back yard without her niqab

Under ISIS control, men in the village were forced to grow their beards and shorten their pants. Twice, Abu Israa says, he was fined $40 because his beard did not fit their length specifications.

ISIS also demanded that local women wear the full black niqab. He says his 12-year-old daughter was nearly lashed for walking to the outdoor bathroom -- within her own backyard -- because ISIS members spotted her without the garment covering her head and body.

Abu Israa worked as an assistant to an ear, nose and throat specialist in Mosul, commuting 30 miles (45km) a day. When ISIS took over the hospital, he tried to quit, because he couldn't afford the transport costs. He says ISIS didn't pay regular salaries, instead dividing up the surgery fees.

"I said, 'I don't have money to be able to work for free.' He said, 'That's your problem, it should be enough to work for Allah,'" Abu Israa explains. "You know, they make everything about religion, but this is not Islam."

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/07/middleeast/isis-human-shield-mosul/index.html