ISIS Shariah court operating in Lebanon border town

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is running its own Shariah court in the northeastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon’s The Daily Star reported Saturday.

It cited the case of Rawad Ezzedine, 21, who was reportedly kidnapped and beaten by dozens of militants and was later tried in the Shariah court after he used God’s name in vain during a verbal exchange with a Syrian adolescent.

Ezzedine’s trial was held on Jan. 30 in a bungalow-turned courthouse in the outskirts of the town that borders Syria, the daily said.

The newspaper said Ezzedine, when taken to the courtroom, was given instructions to greet the judge, a sheikh, in formal Arabic and that the conversation between the two lasted some six minutes. A scribe also recorded every word that was said.

The proceedings were held after the Syrian adolescent filed a complaint in ISIS’ religious court, the newspaper said.
Ezzedine was released less than 24 hours following his capture after the sheikh had listened to his account and compared it to that of the Syrian adolescent.

The sheikh then turned to Ezzedine and asked whether the man knew how to pray.

“I said I didn’t frequently so he said he would teach me how before letting me go,” he told the daily.

The paper said half a dozen quarry workers who claimed to have seen the court and two witnesses who were summoned to hearings, including Ezzedine, corroborated the presence of the ISIS-run rudimentary court system in Arsal’s outskirts.

The newspaper said the presence of the court suggested the militant group was attempting to consolidate power by providing the locals in Arsal order.

Al Arabiya