ERBIL – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) has executed more than 20 of its own militants for trying to flee jihad in Iraq’s northwestern province of Nineveh, local sources reported on Saturday.ISIS captured a group of its militants who tried to escape the battlefront in Mosul city of Nineveh province, and executed them in public in a bid to terrorize its members who may leave their posts in the war-torn region.
“The dissidents were arrested at a checkpoint in the vicinity of Mosul on Friday evening. After being identified as fighters who have left their positions at the fighting front in western Mosul, they were transferred to the Sharia Court for prosecution,” a local media activist, who spoke to ARA News on condition of anonymity, cited an ISIS official as saying.
“Subsequent to a brief interrogation, the Sharia Court decided to behead the dissidents on charges of treason,” the source reported.
The jihadis were beheaded in central Mosul in front of hundreds of people, mostly ISIS members and commanders.
“Witnessing the brutal punishment has caused a state of panic among the members of the group,” the source reported.
ISIS considers any of its jihadis who leaves his post without a permission as a traitor and enemy of its alleged Caliphate.
Escaping Jihad as ‘High Treason’
This is not the first time that ISIS executes its own militants on charges of treason.
On December 20, 2015, the extremist group has beheaded ten militant fighters convicted of ‘high treason’ for evacuating their post at the battlefront without the group’s permission.
“The militants were found guilty for evacuating a post at the battlefront, where clashes took place between them and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces,” local media activist Abdullah al-Mallah told ARA News.
Six of the executed militants were identified as Syrian nationals, while the rest were Western jihadis, according to an informed source in Baaj district.
“The Sharia Court of Mosul decided to behead them in front of hundreds of ISIS members in order to prevent others from taking such a move without the permission of their military leadership,” the source added.
On November 15, 2015, ISIS executed 73 militant fighters for escaping battles with the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Shingal (Sinjar) district in northern Iraq.
“Under the request of the group’s alleged caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, some 73 ISIS militants, who apparently fled the fighting front with the Peshmerga forces in the Yezidi region of Shingal, were executed,” Kurdish official Saeed Mamozini said, adding that the executions were carried out by firing squad south of Mosul.
