VICE NEWS interview: How do you guys operate? Abu Ibrahim Raqqawi: Our campaign is called "Raqqa is being slaughtered silently," and it was launched in April, 2014. We wanted this campaign because ISIS commits a lot of crimes in the city, without anyone in the world knowing about it. So we launched this campaign to document all the crimes that ISIS is doing in the city. After we launched the campaign and posted a lot of crucifixions and executions on the news and Facebook and Twitter, they made three Friday sermons about us, saying we are infidels and we're against Allah and " we'll catch them and we'll execute them." We were 17 but unfortunately one of us got captured and executed by ISIS because he was caught with the videos and photos he was taking of executions. So because of that, we decided to use a new strategy to make sure not another one of us is captured. We are 12 inside the city and four outside. Before the 12 inside the city were posting on Twitter and posting on Facebook, and talking to journalists, but it's very dangerous. So we decided to use a "secret room," and the people in the city post all the photos, the news, and everything, and the four that are out, we are posting it on the internet, Twitter, and Facebook, and talking to journalists. We hide behind fake names and we don't trust anyone, so we don't get captured. So those of you that are out of Raqqa, where are you? There are three in Turkey, and I got out of Raqqa about two weeks ago, but I'm not in Turkey and not in Syria. I got out because they want to execute me but my family is still in Raqqa. Are you all from Raqqa? All of us are from Raqqa, and we were all in Raqqa our all lives. Were you guys fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad before ISIS came in? We were activists against the Assad regime when we started, but after our city was freed, and ISIS took over our freedom, we just decided to launch this campaign to expose all the crimes that ISIS do, and not just ISIS but all the extremist groups in the city. A video has recently gone viral of a woman using a camera hidden behind her niqab to film life in Raqqa and especially life for women. I saw the video. She has a camera, a very expensive camera, and a secret one. The problem that we have with our campaign is that we don't have cameras. We are just using our cell phones and it's very dangerous to take photos inside the city. First, ISIS put cameras all over the city, so they can know who is taking photos and there are a lot of checkpoints. Also, the internet in the city is very, very slow so we use internet cafes and it's very dangerous because all the internet cafes are monitored by ISIS. So we are risking our lives when we are taking photos of executions with our cell phones. The second thing, and it's the most difficult thing for us, is the Al-Khansa brigade. It's a female brigade from ISIS, all of them female. They have weapons, and they control women inside the city, they check if some of them didn't wear the niqab and things like that, they inspect them. Are these women Syrian or mostly foreigners? Most of them are foreigners. From where? All over the world. From the UK, from the US, Dutch, Shishan (Chechen). Do they all speak Arabic? Some of them don't and some of them just simple words. The bad thing for us is that when I'm an activist and I want to take a photo in the streets of Raqqa, there are a lot of women with veils, you know? And I don't know who's from Al-Khansa and who isn't. So when I get out my cell phone and I am taking photos of the city I don't know if any of them are looking at me or not, because they have the veil, and I don't know if they are Al Khansa. Because if you are taking photos and one of the women from Al-Khansa is looking at you, they will catch you immediately, and you'll be executed immediately. This is a big problem for us. What does Al-Khansa mean? It's just a name, there was a woman in ancient Islam, four of her sons were martyred in battles for Islam, so they call her Al-Khansa, it's the mother of a lot of martyrs. What are some of the things you documented when you were in Raqqa, showing the life of women there? We showed two women who were stoned to death. You know why? They said for sleeping with other men. Related article: Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (1/4)
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