The Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq has published photographs that appear to show a man being thrown from the roof of a tall building apparently in Mosul, as punishment for being gay.
The graphic photographs were uploaded to the Justpaste.it website on January 15 and shared on social media.
One photograph, taken from the top of the building from where the man was apparently pushed to his death, shows a large crowd gathered in the public square below.
Another image shows a man with his face covered by a black balaclava, reading out the sentence imposed on the man under the IS group's version of Shari'a law. The caption to the photograph says that the verdict was issued by a Shari'a court in "Wilayat Nineveh," IS's name for Mosul and its environs.
Another image shows the victim being held by another man, apparently his executioner, on the edge of a rooftop. Text accompanying the photograph says that the man is being punished with "Hadd," meaning a punishment that is determined in the Koran and the Hadith for crimes considered to go against the rights of God. The caption noted that the man had committed the crime of the practices of the "people of Lot," a euphemism for sodomy, and that he must be killed by being "thrown from a high place."
A graphic image shows the man being pushed to his death. Another image shows what appears to be the man's body on the ground.
The images released by IS also show two men being crucified in a public square. It's not clear if the images of the crucifixions and the execution of the man who was pushed from a tall building were taken in the same place.
The two men who were crucified were being punished for "banditry," according to the captions accompanying the photographs.
Three more images show a woman clad in a black burka being stoned to death. The photographs show that the stoning was not carried out in the same public square as the crucifixions but in a wooded area.
The woman was accused of "adultery," according to the caption accompanying the photographs. One graphic image shows a group of men, one of whom is carrying an Islamic State black flag, throwing large rocks at the woman, who is lying on the floor.
These graphic images are not the first to show evidence of similar punishments for similar "crimes."
In December, the IS group published photographs appearing to show militants throwing a man off a roof as punishment for "practicing sodomy." A statement accompanying the images said the execution had taken place in "Wilayat al-Furat," ("The Euphrates Province"), an area under IS control that encompasses Al-Qaim in Iraq's Anbar Province on the Syrian border, and Albukamal in Syria's Deir al-Zor Province.
There have been numerous reports that the IS group has stoned to death women and men for "adultery."
In October 2014, an activist group in Raqqa, IS's de facto capital in Syria, published a video that it claimed showed a woman being stoned to death by IS in the countryside around Hama in Syria. The activist group, Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, told RFE/RL that IS had stoned two women in Raqqa previously.
The UN has reported that the militant group has also stoned to death, beheaded, and crucified children for various "crimes."
-- Joanna Paraszczuk