Hundreds watch, ‘help’ ISIS stone woman to death

Militants from the Islamic State jihadist group stoned a woman to death for alleged adultery in the northern city of Iraq, aided by onlookers, local news site Aranews reported on Friday.

“Hundreds of people gathered in front of the Zahraa mosque in eastern Mosul to witness the execution of the woman,” media activist Abdullah al-Malla was quoted as telling Aranews.

The ISIS militants forced several civilians to take part in the stoning, Aranews cited an eyewitness as saying.

“They called on people to take part in the execution, saying we’re in the holy month of Ramzan and we should show commitment to Allah’s Sharia and that the woman deserved death for committing adultery,” an anonymous eyewitness told ARA News.

ISIS’ al-Hisba moral police earlier detained the woman in Mosul’s al-Tahrir district, accusing her of adultery. A Sharia court then sentenced the woman to death by public stoning.

During a lightening offensive in 2014, ISIS-captured Mosul, making it the “capital” of its self-styled Caliphate, which extends across swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

The ultra-extremist Sunni Muslim group has continued to mete out barbaric punishments to alleged transgressors in the areas under its control including stoning, beheadings, burning alive and amputations, according to rights activists and monitoring groups.

As recently as last week, IS executed 19 girls from the minority Yezidi sect who refused to be sex slaves by burning them alive inside iron cages in front of a large crowd in Mosul, Aranews reported.