Displaced residents of Mosul in Erbil, Najaf and Sulaimaniyah testified to Al-Monitor that IS arrested 20,000-25,000 people in Mosul between June 30 and Oct. 30, 2014. These arrests included:
- officers and members of the army, police, border guards and other security services
- members and leaders in the local government and members of political parties, especially those participating in the recent elections
- former Iraqi army officers and former Baathists
- tribal and religious elders and leaders
- women who worked in the judiciary or the government in Mosul, businesswomen and women who inadequately complied with IS dress codes
- men who criticized IS and others who drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes or violated the tax code
- Christians, Yazidis, Shabak, Turkmen and Kurds who were unable to escape
Most of the cases for these arrests were made with information provided by secret informants. The arrestees who made it out of the IS prisons have reported that the IS informant network is widely deployed in neighborhoods and that they are at once earning IS’ recognition and confidence and indulging personal reprisals or financial interests.
Mahmoud al-Musli, a young man who was reported by such an informant, told Al-Monitor after his release through the mediation of one of his relatives, “Most of those who were detained with me were taken away based on information that IS got from secret informants, and IS is getting more and more dependent on these informants.”
This list of detainees in Mosul is much more extensive than the list of those who suffered at the hands of the Iraqi security forces. Moreover, in light of the absence of laws, there are no longer courtroom trails and defense lawyers. A cleric called the “Sharia judge,” often a foreigner and one of the most radical elements of the organization, now decides on the proper punishments.
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