ISIS executes women by beheading for 'witchcraft and sorcery'

It is believed to be the first time ISIS have executed a woman in Syria for crimes of 'witchcraft' and 'sorcery', the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said today.

'The Islamic State group executed two women by beheading them in Deir Ezzor province, and this is the first time the Observatory has documented women being killed by the group in this manner,' Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Britain-based monitor said the executions took place on Sunday and Monday and involved two married couples. 

In both cases, the women were executed with their husbands, with each pair accused of witchcraft and sorcery.

The Islamic State group has become infamous for gruesome executions and is reported to have stoned women to death on allegations of adultery.

But the Observatory said this was the first time it was aware of the group beheading women.

According to the monitor, IS has executed more than 3,000 people in Syria in the year since it declared its Islamic "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq. 

Nearly 1,800 of them were civilians, including 74 children.

The public execution of so-called 'magicians' and 'sorcerers' have been confirmed by ISIS. 

Their media branch has previously released images of several executions in Syria and Iraq of individuals found guilty of performing 'black magic.' 

Street performers, entertaining young children and passersby have been put to death for crimes of magic and sorcerers.

Optical illusions and other basic magic tricks are considered strictly forbidden and a form of black magic, an art condemned as questioning the existence of Allah.

Last month, ISIS's Libyan franchise, released their first images of a sorcerer being beheaded in the province of Barqah.

Forced into wearing a grisly orange boiler suit, the man was forced to confess his alleged 'crimes' and accept his death sentence. 

One of the images released as evidence of his guilt included a manuscript, covered in hand written Arabic in blue ink. The document is alleged to be some sort of spell or proof of black magic.

ISIS also released photos of a magician being decapitated in the Iraqi province of Salahuddin.

A close up image of the man's broken body shows a broken bag full of prayer beads lain near his body.

ISIS claim the beads are trinkets and charms, a form of black magic condemned by the jihadi group as an act of blasphemy. 

(dailymail.co.uk)