New ISIL rules taking Mosul back in time, say residents

Baghdad: In the two weeks since it was seized by Sunni militants, some residents of the northern Iraq city of Mosul feel the clock has been turned back hundreds of years.

The militants, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant jihadist group, have begun imposing an extreme interpretation of Islamic law in the days since they took the city, residents said.

“These militants will return us and our country hundreds of years backwards, and their laws are the opposite of the laws of human rights and international laws,” said Umm Mohammed, a 35-year-old teacher.

After seizing control, gunmen issued a document outlining new rules which include prohibition of the selling and consumption of alcohol and drugs as well as smoking.

Women are to wear non-revealing clothes and keep to their homes, while “shrines” are to be destroyed.