ISIS Women: Forced to Live Behind "Blinding" Black Veils, Punished if EYES are Too Exposed

Women under Islamic State's control in Iraq and Syria are under heavy and strict control of the Islamic State. Women in Mosul, Raqqa and Deir el-Zour have narrated their tales of woe to The Guardian over interviews through phone and Skype.

Women are always forced to be accompanied by an escort, a male guardian called mahram all the time, and are also forced to wear double-layered veils, loose abayas and gloves.

An NGO called Al-Merced reports that the ISIS morality police attacked a young Syrian woman dressed in a full burkha as well as a face veil, because they thought her eyes were too exposed.

The woman was arrested in Albuhamal in the east of Syria, along with two men who tried to protect her. Women in Mosul who did not follow the militant group's strict dress code were being beaten by iron rods, according to dailymail.com.

This month, an ISIS "manifesto" shows the "realities of life and the hallowed existence of women in the Islamic State". It said that girls after nine years could be married, and women should leave the house only in exceptional situations, and should otherwise be "hidden and veiled" always.

ISIS has closed universities in various areas that are under its control, Sama Maher, 20, said. "I had to quit my university studies in Aleppo because I'm not allowed to cross the checkpoints without a mahram and leave the city by myself like before.".

Men who are in charge of the women get punished if the women do not comply with the dress code. Women have to wear a Saudi-style black veil of two layers that hides their eyes and a loose robe made by ISIS after some abayas showed the outlines of their bodies.

Although many women objected at first, they soon agreed when they saw that they could be beaten, humiliated and fined, and their husbands could be punished. Men are forcing their women to stay at home, especially when they see that the women are being forced to wear certain kinds of abayas.

"They forced women of all ages to wear a veil, even though the majority of the women in Mosul wear a hijab," paediatrician Maha Saleh, 36, said. "The Hisbah would hit a woman on her head with a stick if she was not wearing a veil.

"At the beginning, some female doctors refused to wear veils and went on a strike by staying at home. Hisbah took ambulances and went to their houses and brought them by force to the hospital. One of my colleagues was alone in her clinic in the hospital and thought it was all right to strip off her veil. All of a sudden, two Hisbah broke in her room and reproached her for not wearing the veil and warned her not to do that again."

Women have to wear only black. They also have to hide their eyes, which calls for a double-layered veil.

Mosul resident Sabah Nadiem said: "I went once with my wife to one of the old souqs to do some shopping, and after a short while I lost her among the crowd. The problem was that all the women were wearing veils and it was hard to know who was my wife. I was utterly scared to make a mistake and go for the wrong woman. It would be a disaster to fall into Hisbah hands. I could not even use my mobile as the network was down."

He had to call out his wife's name loudly till they got reunited.