Three people have been publicly flogged by Isis for the crime of playing football, an activist has told Iraqi news.
The young men were apprehended in Martyr’s Park in Mosul, a city under the militants’ control, and punished with 30 lashes in front of a crowd last week, the source said.
One of the men had been wearing a Lionel Messi shirt, which Isis ripped up.
The report could not be independently verified but it is consistent with other Isis diktats about sports.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the terror group declared a few months ago that football is un-Islamic because it requires referees, who are not necessarily Sharia law practitioners, to make decisions. The game was subsequently banned.
Isis' harsh version of law in its territories in Syria and Iraq involve bans on news, television, music, smoking and private internet access. Activists and escapees report cruel physical punishments for infringing constantly changing and updating laws set out by the group. Public whippings and executions are common.
Last year, 13 teenagers in Mosul were reportedly executed for using a television to watch an Asian Cup football match between Iraq and Jordan, and earlier this year it was reported that selling sportswear had been banned in Mosul, as it violates principles of Islamic dress in a “blind imitation of infidel Westerners.”
Shops were ordered by Isis’ police force to start selling swords, spears and saddles instead.
Mosul fell to an surprise assault by Isis in June 2014 which shocked the world and turned the group into an international player in the Syrian conflict.
The Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga forces, backed by the US, are trying to retake the city before the end of the year.
