WUNRN
By Khier Casino, Fri, September 26, 2014
Islamic State fighters in control of an Iraqi town stoned a
couple to death after they were convicted in an IS court of committing
adultery, a witness said. Instead of treating it like a normal stoning, a
punishment that has become a regular occurrence under ISIS, militants took
their time with the process in order to ensure maximum torture.
"It is a terrible scene I wish I did not remember,"
a civil servant who said he was present told NBC News on Thursday.
Eight fighters carried out the execution as a
crowd of some 200 residents in Ar Rutbah in western Anbar province stood by
powerless to stop the brutal attack.
“They brought the man and the woman, they tied
their hands and covered their faces, and started to stone them,” added the
witness, whose name has been withheld because he feared for his safety. The
claim could not be independently confirmed.
The couple took a longer time than usual to die,
as militants used stones "smaller than a baseball” to cause slow and
painful death, according to the witness.
“What
The incident happened on Sept. 15, a week before
U.S.-led airstrikes against Islamic State in
The Sunni militants took control of Ar Rutbah on
June 22.
“
This isn’t the first Islamists have executed a
couple by stoning. In 2012, a man and woman who had sex outside marriage were
buried up to their necks, then pelted with stones until they died in the town
of Aguelhok in northern Mali, according to BBC.