'40 lashes for wearing high heels' Escapees of IS all-female police reveal sick brutality
TWO FORMER members of the Islamic State's all-female police unit have given a shocking account of their lives in the elite militia who punish 'un-Islamic' behaviour.
The women, who are hiding in southern Turkey after fleeing from the terror group's self-declared capital of Raqqa, also said they now live in fear of being captured by militants following their escape from the notorious al-Khanssaa brigade.
The sinister group, formed in early 2014, are in charge of ensuring local women abide by the laws of the Islamic State's (IS) regime - such as being fully covered in public and always chaperoned by a male.
One of the women, under the fake name of Doaa, described her regret at being forced to carry out lashes for those who broke the strict Sharia rules.
The 20-year-old left Syria after her Saudi Arabian husband, an IS fighter, blew himself up in a suicide attack.
Explaining the levels of punishment, she told Sky News: "If the woman tries to escape when we arrest her then she'll get 60 lashes.
"Otherwise, when it comes to clothes, if she's not wearing the abaya (Islamic dress) or she's wearing high heels then it's the standard 40 lashes."
She added: "What upset me most was lashing old women when they weren't wearing the proper clothes.
"These women were like my mother. I mean for girls, yes, they should wear the proper attire but old women no. They'd lash them and humiliate them."
The other woman, under the fake name of Umm Ous, said she met many females - from Europe and even Japan - in the Brigade.
To join al-Khansa, women must complete four weeks of weapons training and are paid around £70 a month to patrol the streets, man checkpoints and raid houses.
Umm Ous described meeting a British female IS fighter known as Umm Bakr.
She said: "(She) came to Raqqa because it was an Islamic State (city), where the true religion is. They all came to fight the non-believers. They prayed and fasted."
Like many other women in Raqqa, Umm Ous was married off to foreign fighters.
Her first husband was a Turkish IS commander who was killed in battle.
She was then made to marry an Egyptian militant months later, who left her behind after escaping IS.
She claims she never loved either of her husbands.
I married him because it was what was available and the situation didn't allow for anything else
She said: "I married him because it was what was available and the situation didn't allow for anything else.
"Most of the time I'd stay at my parent's house because he wasn't around. He behaved normally, he'd come home for two or three days and then go back to fight.
"So in the whole year I probably saw him for less than a month altogether. And then he was martyred."
Both Doaa and Umm Ous are in Turkey illegally and say IS fighters are looking for them.
According to the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, the al-Khanssaa Brigade were initially formed in February last year with "with the purpose of exposing male activists who disguise in women’s clothing to avoid detention when stopping at the ISIL checkpoints".
Last week it was reported that a British mother who joined IS is believed to have been filmed leading an army of women in the al-Khanssaa Brigade.
Where did the Islamic State come from?
The chilling new video, thought to feature mum-of-two Sally Jones, 45, shows an army of women marching with firearms and appearing to be on a training mission.
As they chant they raise their weapons into the air in a brazen show of loyalty.
One of al-Khanssaa's key figures is believed to be Aqsa Mahmood, 20, of Glasgow, who fled to the Middle East in 2013.
Mahmood recently denied recruiting three schoolgirls from the Bethnal Green Academy in east London, who are feared to have travelled to Syria earlier this year.
