According to Express, a guerilla group called Iraqiswat with an Instagram account under the same name has started allowing their followers to decide whether or not captured members of ISIS live or die. Photos of the supposed members of ISIS are uploaded onto Instagram with their hands and feet tied together, alongside a caption such as the following:
After the hour is up, a second image showing the member of ISIS either alive or dead is uploaded. Typically commenters vote death over life, and while many seem skeptical that the photos are real experts from the Henry Jackson Society believe the photos are legitimate:
Experts from the Henry Jackson Society believe the photos are genuine and appear to be from a Shia militia group that includes former members of the Iraqi Special Forces.
Research fellow Kyle Orton said: “I think this is probably credible. While this is an official uniform, this is almost certainly from an Iranian proxy militia.
“I have not seen them asking for a vote on people’s fate before and there is no guarantee this guy they have is an IS member. The militias treat any military-age male who remained under IS rule as a collaborator.
“But atrocities by militia-infiltrated security forces or militias in official uniforms, as is often really the case now, have been really common, as has disseminating the pictures and videos.
The messages are: ‘We are tough enough to face IS,’ which is a message to their own Shia constituency and also designed to terrorise Sunnis generally so they will stop rebelling against the Iraqi government.”(via)
Despite users flocking to the account to play the “game,” Instagram continually removes the photos due to the fact that they violate their community guidelines. However, Express confirms that they’ve seen “…a bloodied, long-haired man, said to be an ISIS fighter, awaiting his fate” along with a later message and image that stated “As you wish my followers. We will kill him.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/9MaOzuzD-s/?taken-by=iraqiswat
[H/T Express]