Later
in the day, the militants publicly beheaded 3 young men on a street
in central Mosul, accusing them of being the nephews of a political
opponent of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
They
were the latest in a series of public executions of people accused of
social offenses in the city, which the militants wrested from Iraqi
control last June.
The
stoning victims, who were not identified, were in their 20s, witnesses
said. The woman was described as being married. It was not known whether
they had been given a trial, but none was held in public.
Abu
Mohammad al-Lahibi, who runs a clothing store in Mosul, said he had
seen the militants gathering several hundred residents in front of the
government building in Mosul to witness the execution. The couple were
handcuffed, and the woman was wearing a niqab, or full face veil.
"Twelve ISIS
militants were standing there who had bags with them filled with
stones, and they began throwing the stones at them, and after the third
stone the woman was killed,” Mr. Lahibi said. The man died a short while
later, he said.
Another
witness said he had tried to record video of the execution on his
cellphone but was ordered by the militants not to do so.
“I
was moved by the crying of this woman, who started bleeding and then
died from the stoning,” said the witness, Saad, who gave only his first
name out of concern for his safety. “I was standing there helpless. The
government has left us as captives in the hands of ISIS, who make all
kinds of crimes in the city. The more I see their crimes, the more I
hate them and realize they have come to carry out a paid agenda to
destroy the city and its history and civilization and to defame the
image of Islam.”
