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TRAPPED FOREVER: A first hand account on the horrific daily life in ISIS' terror captial, Raqqa

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'The problem is how to get out,' explains a 'Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently' activist.

Forced blood donations, daily executions, airstrikes and forced marriages are just a few things those stuck in ISIS' capital city, Raqqa experience. Getting in with ISIS is not the hard part; getting out alive is impossible.

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Highlights

By Abigail James (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
2/24/2015 (9 years ago)

Published in Middle East

Keywords: ISIS, Raqqa, terror, terrorist, Islamic State, jihad, IS, jihadist, caliphate, Syria, Iraq

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi uses this fake name to spread word of conditions in Raqqa. If he uses his own name, he will be punished. According to CNN, al-Raqqawi is a former medical student and founder of the activist group called, "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently."

"ISIS fighters have already tortured and executed one member of the group," he explains to CNN. "They've made it clear they want the others involved dead."

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However, this danger does not stop al-Raqqawi from sharing the truth.

"I lost my life ... I don't have school. I don't have a future. I don't have anything, but I didn't want that for me or for my city," he states. "It's the situation forcing me to do this. I don't want to be famous. I don't want everybody to know who I am or what I'm doing. It's just for my city and for my family and for the innocent civilians. ... We are trying our best. We are trying to save our city."

In the last two months, ISIS has executed 40 people in Raqqa for charges ranging from fighting against them to being gay.

"If you have anything in the Islamic court, they say, 'Go to the hospital and donate your blood and bring me the receipt, and if you don't have it, I can't help you," he explains. "They say to you, 'We can't help you until you go to the hospital. There (are) a lot of airstrikes, a lot of injured ISIS fighters.'"

Al-Raqqawi recalls more than 270 cases of girls forced to marry ISIS fighters and describes the militants as "really sex-mad" with two to three wives each.

The buildings of Raqqa have been painted bright pinks, whites, golds and greens in what al-Raqqa assumes to be a coverup effort from coalition airstrikes.

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Those who come to Raqqa to fight alongside ISIS are initially treated well; they have fancy houses and large amounts of money. But, they are stuck for life and can never leave, just like the civilians of Raqqa.

"ISIS takes their passports and if anyone tries defection from this, they will kill them immediately," al-Raqqawi states. "The problem, it's not how to go inside the city of Raqqa. The problem is how to get out."

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