Two Syrian women donned hidden cameras and risked their lives to shine light on what life is like inside Raqqa, the ISIS capital.
The footage is a reminder of the horrifying conditions women are forced to live in, in the city and the wider "caliphate". If the pair had been found to be secretly filming inside the city, they would have faced public flogging or even execution.
In the video, which we first spotted on Swedish newspaper Expressen's site, the two women have had their voices distorted and have been given the names Om Omran and Om Mohammad in order to protect their identity.
"I want to live the way I want. I want to buy what I want. I want to go out alone, free and without having a guardian with me", says Om Mohammad.
ISIS (also known as Islamic State, ISIL, Daesh) occupied Raqqa in 2013 and have ruled over the city ever since they took full control in 2014. The city acts as the terrorist group's stronghold, where propaganda seeps into the cracks of everyday life. In the video, the women ride in a taxi while an anthem praising Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State's most senior figure, plays in the background.
"Oh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, you instill fear into the enemy," it says.
Strict Sharia laws prevents women from going out on their own. They must be accompanied by another woman or male guardian at all times. They're not allowed to work or go to school.
According to Expressen's video, female police officers patrol the streets enforcing a strict dress code as laws dictate that women must hide all skin and cover up by wearing black veils, gloves, and abayas (a sort of long black cloak) at all times.
in January, a 21-year-old woman was reportedly executed for violating these rules, while other reports suggest militants use a metal tool called 'the Biter' to clip the flesh of women who disobey the rules.
The newly-released footage shows the two women shopping for hair dye — even the model's faces on the packaging have been scribbled out with black marker. The shop owner says she is "wearing a niqab."
The footage is a rare glimpse of life inside the ISIS stronghold. Much of the previously released footage is doctored propaganda material distributed by the terrorist organisation. This new footage shows the reality of its brutal regime.
They have succeeded in wiping any trace of Christianity from the city — the city's largest church is now ISIS headquarters and other religious structures have been completely destroyed.
Public floggings and executions are also a common occurrence. Women particularly live in fear of being stoned to death.
"They don't say what the woman's crime is. If they're going to stone her to death, they ask people to come to the roundabout to witness the execution," one of the women explains. "They let people come here and bring stones."
After they have been stoned, many victims are then laid out on the road and driven over by cars until "the body becomes like a rag" and "only the clothes are left."
Children also watch these executions, which often involve gay people being thrown from rooftops to their death as hundreds gather to watch.
The women planned to flee the ISIS-controlled city but stayed when their friend got pregnant by a man who wasn't her husband — an act punishable by death in the caliphate.
Abortions are also illegal, meaning Om Omran and Om Mohammad had to carry out a home abortion on their friend.
"I long to be able to dress as I want, like I used to do before," says Om Mohammad. "I long to walk down streets without being scared and without seeing weapons or foreigners who scare us."
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