Shamsa al-Nahar

Shamsa an-Nahar is a married mother of one. While Raqqa was under ISIS control, she began selling cigarettes to friends and relatives, despite the risks involved. Smoking and dealing cigarettes were prohibited by ISIS and entailed punishments stipulated by ISIS laws.

As a result, she was subjected to repeated arrests by operatives of the Hisba Diwan. She explains in the video testimony that she was taken to more than one Hisba prison, including the Muawiyah School Prison and the Rumaila Prison.

Shamsa says that soon after starting her tobacco business, she and her husband were taken to one of the Hisba prisons near the ad-Dallah roundabout. As it was her first arrest, she was released the following day on the condition that she attend a sharia course and pay a fine.

Her name was subsequently put on a list of cigarette dealers, which caused her to be arrested often. Each time she would spend a few days in prison and pay a hefty fine. Detaining people who sold cigarettes became a reliable source of income for ISIS. 

Investigation documents written after Shamsa’s third arrest state that “the aforementioned woman was caught selling cigarettes for the third time; eight cartons were in her possession.” The fourth arrest report states that “after interrogating her, she confirmed she had been selling cigarettes for a year and a half, and that she had been arrested more than once. For the first offense she had paid a fine of 190,000 Syrian pounds; for the second, she had paid 150 US dollars and handed in 15 cartons of cigarettes.”

Shamsa speaks about her final detention, which lasted longer. A Hisba patrol had raided her home and, despite her being sick, had taken her to prison and placed her in solitary confinement for five days. During that period, she was beaten and insulted in repeated interrogation sessions.

She and other cigarette dealers were constantly threatened with the death sentence. Executions of cigarette dealers were sometimes carried out in public squares, supposedly to deter others. The square of an-Na’eem roundabout was infamous for executions. 

Shamsa bitterly recounts her imprisonment.  After the torments of solitary confinement, she was moved to a cell crowded with a large number of other women. They suffered from a lack of space and food, which sometimes resulted in arguments.  Shamsa remembers women charged with witchcraft and adultery, with dress code violations, or with wearing makeup or perfume. 

After a month of detention, a judge sentenced Shamsa to 30 lashes. He then ordered her release, but only after threatening to confiscate her home if she returned to selling cigarettes.

After her final release from prison, Shamsa did indeed stop dealing cigarettes . She worried that another arrest might not only mean the loss of her house, as the judge had said, but the loss of her life too.