ISIS Executes Four People In Mosul For ‘Homosexuality,’ Including Two Of Their Own

Even as three dozen ISIS militants were executed by hanging today for the 2014 massacre at the Camp Speicher air base near Tikrit, which is Saddam Hussein’s hometown, more ISIS members were busy executing more people, including their own, in Mosul, publicly by method of hanging, for the alleged acts of “homosexuality and sodomy.”

Pictures circulated on the internet that showed men hanging from a high-rise building, and then a crowd of men throwing large stones at a dead man’s body, while a crowd gathered and looked on, their faces void of expression. This has become a commonplace event in areas of the Middle East that are densely populated by members of ISIS, and even as Iraqi officials announced that the 36 convicts were executed by hanging on Sunday at a prison in Nasiriya in the south, ISIS members in Mosul continued their reign of terror.

Iraqi forces commanded Tikrit from the Islamic State in 2015 after ISIS had a nearly 12-year upper hand in the region. The 2014 slayings were captured on video and circulated, showing man after man shot execution-style and then pushed into the Tigris river. Families of the Iraqi victims could do little but watch helplessly as their relative was murdered. As the Iraqi government took restitution for the massacre today, the death chamber was crowded with the families of Camp Speicher victims, who were invited to watch the executions. The convicted murderers were each hung individually, as family members cried, their emotions bittersweet. The method of execution and reaction of family members were reported anonymously, as such information is considered classified by the Iraq government, according to The New York Times.

The threat of ISIS capture and being brought to justice for their horrific acts which have included bombings, beheadings, child rape, mass murder, burnings, and hangings has not seemed to subdue members of ISIS, which continues to be a large and powerful militant organization that is amply funded and holds power over massive amounts of territory in middle eastern countries such as Iraq and Syria. While three dozen men were executed by the new government of Iraq today, hundreds more pour into training camps every day, their beliefs firmly ingrained in militant religious ideas, social norms, and ideas about land, money, and power.

Today in Mosul, ISIS hung two of their own militants, showing other ISIS members and the world that they will kill anyone who is not in strict standard with their beliefs, which is often Sharia Law, in which premarital sex by women, adultery, homosexuality, sodomy and other sexual acts are punishable by death in the name of an extremist interpretation of Islam. Muslims worldwide condemn the atrocities committed by ISIS.

Another source said the four men were not hung but were thrown from buildings. The identity of the source is unknown.

“ISIS members executed four people, including two of its own members, on charges of homosexuality and sodomy. The execution was carried out by throwing the men from the top of a former insurance company building. The execution was carried out in dour al-Toub area in central Mosul. Later, the outfit transferred the bodies and threw them at Al-Khasfah hole, situated to the west of Mosul.”

It is difficult to properly identify photographs of the dead now that there are so many, and even the United States has had difficulty establishing the authenticity of such photos when ISIS has claimed responsibility for the killings of U.S. soldiers, missionaries, tourists and civilian workers.

Many family members of the dead are fearful of claiming association, lest they receive a similar fate. In videos, militant executioners typically keep their face and identifying features covered, making a positive identification and trial difficult.

[Photo by John Moore/Getty Images]