In this photo released on July 2, 2014, by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, Iraqi men gather around the Daesh group officials to sign cards testifying that they have "repented" from their heretical past, in Mosul, northern Iraq. — AP ESKI MOSUL, Iraq — When the Daesh (the so-called IS) fighters burst into the Iraqi village of Eski Mosul, Sheikh Abdullah Ibrahim knew his wife was in trouble. Buthaina Ibrahim was an outspoken human rights advocate who had once run for the provincial council in Mosul. The Daesh fighters demanded she apply for a “repentance card.” Under the rule of the extremist group, all former police officers, soldiers and people whose activities are deemed “heretical” must sign the card and carry it with them at all times. “She said she'd never stoop so low,” her husband said. Buthaina Ibrahim was an outlier in her defiance of Daesh. It would cost her dearly. The self-proclaimed “caliphate,” declared a year ago, demands obedience. Untold numbers have been killed because they were deemed dangerous to Daesh, or insufficiently pious; 5-8 million endure a regime that has swiftly turned their world upside down, extending its control into every corner of life to enforce its own radical interpretation of Islamic law or Shariah. Daesh is a place where men douse themselves with cologne to hide the odor of forbidden cigarettes; where taxi drivers or motorists usually play the Daesh radio station, since music can get a driver 10 lashes; where women must be entirely covered, in black, and in flat-soled shoes; where shops must close during prayers, and everyone found outdoors must attend. There is no safe way out. People vanish — their disappearance sometimes explained by an uninformative death certificate, or worse, a video of their beheading. “People hate them, but they've despaired, and they don't see anyone supporting them if they rise up,” said a 28-year-old Syrian who asked to be identified only by the nickname he uses in political activism, Adnan, in order to protect his family, which still lives under Daesh rule. “People feel that nobody is with them.” The Associated Press interviewed more than 20 Iraqis and Syrians describing life under the group's rule. One AP team traveled to Eski Mosul, a village on a bend in the Tigris River north of Mosul where residents emerged from nearly seven months under Daesh rule after Kurdish fighters drove the extremists out in January. The Daesh forces remain dug in only a few miles away, so close that smoke is visible from fighting on the front lines. Another AP team traveled to the Turkish border cities of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa, refuges for Syrians who have fled Daesh territory. The picture they paint suggests the Daesh's self-proclaimed “caliphate” has evolved into an entrenched pseudo-state, based on a bureaucracy of terror. Interviewees provided AP with some documents produced by the Daesh ruling machine — repentance cards, lists inventorying weapons held by local fighters, leaflets detailing rules of women's dress, detailed forms for applying for permission to travel outside Daesh territory. All emblazoned with the Daesh black banner and logo. Adnan described the transformation that the Syrian city of Raqqa underwent after Daesh took it over in January 2014. At the time, he fled, but after a few months of missing his family, the 28-year-old returned to see if he could endure life under the extremists. He lasted for almost a year in the city, now the Daesh de facto capital. He spoke to AP in the Turkish border town of Gaziantep. The once colorful, cosmopolitan Syrian provincial capital has been transformed, he said. Now, women covered head to toe in black scurried quickly to markets before rushing home. Families often didn't leave home to avoid any contact with the “Hisba” committees, the dreaded enforcers of the innumerable Daesh regulations. The Daesh fighters turned a soccer stadium into a prison and interrogation center, known as “Point 11.” The city's central square was referred to by residents as “Jaheem” Square — Hell Square, an execution site where Adnan said he saw the corpses of three men left dangling for days as a warning. Armed members of the Hisba patrolled the streets, cruising in SUVs and wearing Afghan-style baggy pants and long shirts. They sniffed people for the odor of cigarettes, and chastised women they considered improperly covered or men who wore Western clothes or hair styles. Adnan said he once was dealt 10 lashes for playing music in his car. In this world, the outspoken Buthaina Ibrahim was clearly in danger. The sheikh tried to save his wife, sending her away to safety, but she soon returned, missing their three daughters and two sons, he said. In early October, the militants surrounded the house and dragged her away. Not long after, Ibrahim received the death certificate. A simple sheet of paper from a so-called “Islamic court” with a judge's signature, it said only that Buthaina's death was verified, nothing more. He has no idea where her body is. Delivery from Daesh came to Eski Mosul at the hands of Kurdish fighters. Amid the joy over liberation, many residents discarded documents from Daesh. But Ibrahim is keeping the death certificate as a connection to his wife, “because it has her name on it.” A former soldier in the village, Salim Ahmed, said he is keeping his repentance card. Daesh might be gone, but the fear it instilled in him is not. “We live very close to their front line,” he said. “One day, they might come back and ask me for my repentance card again.” Chronology of terror April 18, 2010 — US and Iraqi forces kill two top leaders of Al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq. Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi becomes the terror group's new leader. March 2011 — Syrian conflict erupts following an uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad that turns into an insurgency and eventually civil war, attracting scores of Al-Qaeda militants from Iraq. April 2013 — Al-Baghdadi announces his group has taken over the Nusra Front, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. The combined group is variously called different names; eventually it is known as Daesh (the so-called IS). Nusra denies the takeover, sparking infighting that continues to this day. March 5, 2013 — Rebel factions including the Nusra Front take over Raqqa, a provincial capital in north-central Syria, the largest city to be wrested from Assad's government by rebels. May 2013 — Daesh fighters burst on stage and show their strength by shooting three peoples in a main square in Raqqa. The group begins seizing towns and villages across northern Syria. January 2014 — Al-Baghdadi's forces sweep into Fallujah and parts of Ramadi in Iraq's Anbar province, which Iraqi security forces had abandoned weeks earlier. In Syria, they seize full control of Raqqa after driving out rival groups. Infighting with rivals erupts across north and eastern Syria. June 10, 2014 — Al-Baghdadi's fighters take over Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul and, the next day, overrun more of Nineveh province, including the village of Eski Mosul. They soon sweep south, capturing Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and much of the Sunni heartland nearly to the outskirts of Baghdad as government forces melt away. When they threaten Shiite holy sites, Iraq's top Shiite cleric issues a call to arms against the group, bringing a flood of volunteers to militias. June 29, 2014 — The Daesh group declares the establishment of a “caliphate” in territories it controls in Iraq and Syria, and Al-Baghdadi is declared the “caliph.” To celebrate, the militants “unite” the territories by knocking down sand berms in the desert that mark the border between the two countries. They soon after seize several actual border crossings. Aug. 8, 2014 — The US begins targeting the Daesh group with airstrikes, citing the humanitarian plight of Iraq's minorities, like the Yazidis. Aug. 19, 2014 — Daesh releases a video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley in response to the US-led airstrikes. This marks the first of many videos showing militants beheading foreign captives. Jan. 23, 2015 — Kurdish peshmerga fighters regain control of Eski Mosul and several neighboring towns, driving out the Daesh fighters. Jan. 26, 2015 — Kurdish fighters take control of the Syrian border town of Kobani near Turkey after fighting the Daesh militants for months. US-led airstrikes helped turn the tide for the Kurds. Feb. 3, 2015 — Daesh releases a video of Jordanian pilot Muath Al-Kaseasbeh being burned to death inside a cage. April 1, 2015 — Backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, Iraqi forces retake the city of Tikrit, their biggest gain yet against the Daesh group. May 17, 2015 — Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province, falls to Daesh as Iraqi forces abandon their weapons and armored vehicles to flee. May 20, 2015 — Daesh captures the historic desert city of Palmyra in central Syria after Assad's forces collapse and withdraw. June 16, 2015 — Kurds deal Daesh a major setback by capturing the Syrian town of Tel Abyad on the Turkish border, which had provided a strategic supply route to Daesh. — AP
