5 ways Isis terrorises women

They are forbidden to leave the house without a male relative, threatened with punishment if they don't wear 'appropriate' clothing and regularly denied their rights

Women are treated as property in Isis-controlled territory (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

In Isis-controlled areas of Iraq and Syria, women are treated as property. They are beaten, whipped and killed as punishment for a range of crimes.

They are forbidden to leave the house without a male relative, threatened with punishment if they don't wear "appropriate" clothing and regularly denied their rights. Those deemed to be pagans, such as the Yazidis, are bought and sold as slaves.

Writing from Iraq, Patrick Cockburn reported on descriptions of "the Biter" or "Clipper" - a mental instrument introduced by Isis officials to punish women whose clothes they claim to not completely conceal their body.

Reports from those inside areas controlled by Isis and others who have escaped expose the terror group's brutal treatment of women.

The fatwa on female sex slaves

In December, Isis issued a fatwa detailing how and when its fighters can rape female sex slaves - "one of the inevitable consequences of jihad".

The document lists 15 rulings, which go into explicit detail prohibiting discourse if a slave is menstruating or is pregnant, and banning forced abortions.

Many of the injunctions deal with rape within families, or the "sharing" of slave children.

Some 2,000 Yazidi women were captured and forced into sexual slavery when Isis raided Mount Sinjar in 2014.

One nine-year-old Yazidi girl became pregnant after she was taken as a sex slave and raped by 10 militants. They have also burnt a woman alive for refusing to engage in an "extreme" sex act.

The pamphlet with tips for taking, punishing and raping female captives

The Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) believes that thousands of Yazidi woman have already been sold into enslavement (AFP)

Isis released a pamphlet providing its followers with guidelines on how to capture, keep and sexually abuse female slaves.

It says it is "permissible" to take non-Muslims captive, making particular mention of "People of the Book" - Jews and Christians.

The pamphlet says "unbelief" in Islam is all that is required to make someone a slave.

One rule says it is "permissible" to rape a female slave "immediately after taking possession of her" and that it is "permissible to have intercourse with the female slave who hasn't reached puberty if she is fit for intercourse.

Shutting down women's clinics

Veiled women walk past a billboard that carries a verse from Koran urging women to wear a hijab in the northern province of Raqqa (REUTERS/Stringer)

In another assault on the rights of women, Isis ordered the closure of all women's clinics supervised by male doctors in its Syrian heartlands.

The terror group drastically restricted the work of male gynaecologists in accordance with its leaders' belief that men and women should be kept separate at all costs.

Public whipping and stoning

Since Isis forces stormed Mosul in June, life in the city has rapidly deteriorated with fear and anger commonplace, according to the many refugees who have fled into Kurdish-controlled Irbil (AP)

Women are sentenced to being whipped in public for various offences, such as breast feeding in public or not being fully veiled.

Others are sentenced to death by stoning, often as a punishment for adultery.

Kurdish activists have speculated that some women have been stoned to death after being raped by Isis fighters themselves.

"The biter"

Sources described the "the Biter" or "clipper" an instrument causing agonising pain by ripping off pieces of flesh. Other witnesses described it as operating like an animal trap, or a metal jaw with teeth that cut into the flesh.

Isis insists women are fully veiled, wear loose or baggy trousers, socks and gloves. They also say women must be accompanied by a male relative whenever they step outside their homes.