ISIS ‘police’ lash musicians for playing electronic keyboards

A video purporting to show ISIS religious police in Syria lashing musicians and destroying their instruments has been reportedly released by the militants this week.

According to text posted along with the images on a file-sharing website, two musicians were punished with 90 lashes. They had been playing an electric keyboard and a lute.

The raid on the musicians is believed to have taken place in Bujaq, a few miles to the east of Aleppo, the Daily Mail reported.

The men were 'caught' playing electronic keyboards, and what appears to be a lute. (Courtesy: Twitter)

The men were 'caught' playing electronic keyboards, and what appears to be a lute. (Courtesy: Twitter)

The U.N. on Tuesday decried numerous executions of civilians in Iraq by ISIS, warning that educated women appeared to be especially at risk.

The jihadist group is showing a “monstrous disregard for human life” in the areas it controls in Iraq, the U.N. human rights office said.

The group, which controls large swathes of territory in Iraq and in neighboring war-ravaged Syria, last week published pictures of the “crucifixions” of two men accused of being bandits, and of a woman being stoned to death, allegedly for adultery.

Numerous other women have also reportedly been executed recently in ISIS-controlled areas, including Iraq’s Mosul, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.

She said “educated, professional women, particularly women who have run as candidates in elections for public office, seem to be particularly at risk.”

“In just the first two weeks of this year, reports indicate that three female lawyers were executed,” Shamdasani said.

A number of other groups are also targeted by the jihadists, Shamdasani said, pointing to “the ruthless murder of two men, who were thrown off the top of a building after having been accused of homosexual acts by a so-called court in Mosul.”