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. 'In just the first two weeks of this year, reports indicate that three female lawyers were executed.'
At this stage, only God can save the world from the cruelty of Islamic terrorists.
