This Woman Explains How She Became A Brutal ISIS Enforcer ...it was so horrifying... A former member of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who was part of a female law enforcement group that enforced ISIS rules on women said her time with the group in Syria was so horrifying, she even began to become afraid of it herself. The 25-year-old woman, covered with a niqab and taking the alternate name of ‘Khadija,’ told CNN in an interview posted Tuesday she joined ISIS after the once peaceful protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned violent. She at one point had been a schoolteacher. “Everything around us was chaos…Free Syrian Army, the regime, barrel bombs, strikes, the wounded, clinics, blood — you want to tear yourself away, to find something to run to. “My problem was I ran away to something uglier.” Khadija met a Tunisian man online and gradually began to trust him, as he assured her ISIS was not a terrorist organization. “He would say, ‘We are going to properly implement Islam. Right now we are in a state of war, a phase where we need to control the country, so we have to be harsh.” She reached out to her cousin who was living in the city of Raqqa. It was there Khadija’s cousin encouraged her to join an all-female police brigade–the Khansa’a Brigade–that enforces the laws of ISIS. CNN explains that Khansa’a Brigade “is made up of around 25-30 women and is tasked with patrolling the streets of Raqqa to ensure that women adhere to proper clothing as outlined by the Islamic State.” Among the prohibitions Khansa’a Brigade enforced were no form fitting abayas (the gown worn by Muslim women). Also, women could not show their eyes, which was subject to lashings by Umm Hamza. Advertisement-content continues below Khadija told CNN when she first saw Umm Hamza, she was scared. “She’s not a normal female. She’s huge, she has an AK, a pistol, a whip, a dagger, and she wears the niqab.” She said at first she liked the job, but became fearful of many things, including herself. “At the start, I was happy with my job. I felt that I had authority in the streets. But then I started to get scared, scared of my situation. I even started to be afraid of myself.” The breaking point for Khadija was when her commander was putting on the pressure for her to get married–she’d had enough of it. While her family remains in Syria, she has made her way to Turkey. “So it was at this point, I said enough. After all that I had already seen and all the times I stayed silent, telling myself, ‘We’re at war, then it will all be rectified.’ “But after this, I decided no, I have to leave.” Khadija told CNN she still wears the niqab, not only to keep her identity concealed, but also because she is still struggling to adjust to life after ISIS. Read more at westernjournalism/woman-explains-became-brutal-isis-enforcer/#y3Ejo151leatfuST.99 westernjournalism/woman-explains-became-brutal-isis-enforcer/
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 03:14:40 +0000
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