Documents concerning Public and Personal Freedoms

The ISIS Prisons Museum (IPM) has archived, categorized, and analyzed thousands of documents collected from abandoned ISIS sites since 2018. Many of these documents concern the Hisba Diwan’s interference in almost every aspect of public and private life.

They show, for example, how ISIS prohibited clothing decorated with images or brand names, prevented people from giving their children certain names, and tried to change important cultural traditions such as burial and mourning ceremonies, celebrations, and marriages.

The new legislation represented an assault on the cultural and religious identity of Syria and Iraq. The punishments for violators were often extremely cruel.

Some relevant documents are described below.