ISIS women impose Sharia in the Hol Camp

In the Hol Camp in Northern Syria there are thousands of ISIS followers. Women who deviate from Islamist ideology are punished by an execution committee.

At the Hol Camp near Hesekê, ISIS women try to assert their worldview. They secretly organize themselves and force other women who want to renounce the ideas of the terrorist organization "Islamic State" to take part in training courses.

The ISIS is regarded as the most dangerous organization in the world and appeared in 2014 as the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant". The group committed brutal massacres in Iraq and Syria and occupied large areas. In the spring of this year it was defeated militarily by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

In the Hol Camp there are over 40,000 followers of the ISIS, most of them women with children. In the camp, ISIS women have established a Sharia Court. Children are indoctrinated with the ISIS ideology in separate training sessions. Under the term "al-Hisba" a penal institution has been founded. This institution tracks down and kills people in the camp who do not adhere to the ISIS norms.

A witness of the incidents in the Hol Camp has testified to the ANHA news agency based in Northern Syria. For security reasons her full name is not mentioned. H.B. comes from Europe and was herself at ISIS. According to her, women who renounce Islamic ideology and want a secure future for their children are punished by the ISIS women. The sanctions extend as far as murder. "There is no more security for the women in the camp. They are punished and murdered by al-Hisba. It is enough to wear coloured clothes or listen to music. The children are also affected by this procedure," the former ISIS supporter said.  

What is al-Hisba?

Al-Hisba is in Islam a religious institution under the authority of the state for the preservation of the order of the Sharia. It is responsible for the control of the public space and the supervision of the markets. According to Muslim belief, al-Hisba is the duty to "enjoin the right and prohibit the reprehensible".

For over a year, the autonomous administration of North and East Syria has been calling on the states of origin of the ISIS members in the camps and prisons in the region to repatriate their citizens. The autonomous administration also repeatedly warns of a possible loss of control over ISIS prisoners as a result of Turkey's attacks on Northern Syria. Due to the Turkish invasion of Rojava, hundreds of ISIS members have already managed to escape from camps. Some of these have reappeared in Turkey or in the Turkish occupation zone in Northern Syria.

The camp hosts 71,658 displaced persons and refugees from different nationalities of more than 60 countries.

30,890 people are Iraqi refugees (for a total of 8,756 Iraqi families), 30,314 are displaced Syrians (8,906 Syrian families). 10,454 are people from around the world.

The latter includes 3,295 families of ISIS who are proving to represent a danger as big as the fighters held in the detention centers of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The Hol Camp consists of 7 sections. The first three sections are accommodated by those who fled the ISIS attack in Mosul in 2014. The fourth section houses Syrian refugees, while the fifth, sixth and seventh sections are allocated to the families of ISIS members. The section called “Muhacirat” (Immigration) houses the families of foreign ISIS members.

Mazlum Abdi, General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), recently compared the situation in the camp to a "bomb that could explode". The autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria has long been calling on the countries of origin of ISIS members in the camps and prisons in the region to take back their nationals. With a few exceptions, this call remains unheard. This situation is especially tragic for the children of ISIS members, who have no chance to escape Islamist indoctrination.

ISIS women in the Hol Camp continue to attack refugees and enforce ISIS laws. The number of attacks has increased, especially after the death of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi, and the Turkish state’s military offensive seeking to invade North and East Syria. The camp has long come up with cases of violence.

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