A prominent activist has revealed to the world that life under the Islamic State is hardest in its stronghold of Raqqa in Syria.
The activist, who goes by the pseudonym Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi, told CNN that life "is like a big prison" for women who live in the city. Women younger than 45 years of age, he said, are barred from leaving the city, which became ISIS's de facto capital after the city was captured in July last year.
He also said his activist group has documented 270 cases of girls forcibly married to fighters in the Islamic State.
Al-Raqqawi is the founder of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, an activist group dedicated to documenting and publishing accounts of human rights abuses committed by the ISIS in Raqqa.
In the interview with CNN's Brooke Baldwin, al-Raqqawi also described the justice system that the Islamic State's courts are imposing upon the citizens. According to the activist, anyone who has a case pending before the Islamic court could end up being forced to donate blood that will apparently be used to aid injured Islamic State fighters.
"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,'" he said.
The activist also revealed to Baldwin that, while foreigners who come and fight for ISIS are housed in the best houses and given luxuries like cars, they are also being watched closely by the group. Some foreign fighters who attempted to defect from ISIS were killed after being discovered.
Al-Raqqawi revealed the danger that activism and going against ISIS can put the people in.
"If you are an activist...inside the city of Raqqa, it will take you to death," he said.
Despite the danger, he pledges to continue revealing to the world the extent of ISIS brutality in Raqqa.
"I don't have anything, but I didn't want that for me or for my city," he told Baldwin. "It's the situation forcing me to do this... It's just for my city and for my family and for the innocent civilians."
