ISIS Victims Recount Year of Nightmares

It's been a year now since ISIS forces rampaged through parts of Iraq and Syria. Their trail of death led to the formation of an Islamic caliphate and another unwanted war for the West.

Those who have lived under ISIS tell heart-wrenching stories of how they and their loved ones were treated.

The whole world knows of ISIS from the gruesome stories of innocent Westerners beheaded and multiplied thousands of Christians and other minorities forced to flee or die.

For those living in or near ISIS-controlled territory, the nightmare remains.

Sheikh Abdullah Ibrahim, from the town of Eski in Mosul, Iraq, has nothing left to remember his wife but a death certificate. He has no idea what ISIS did with her body.

He held a certificate that reads, "The Islamic State, Caliphate in the Path of the Prophet. Office of Judiciary and Appeals. The Islamic Court for Nineveh Province, Al-Jezeera Precinct."

"It shows they assassinated her," Sheikh Ibrahim said. "They said she was an apostate because she was running as a candidate for the governing council."

The sheikh's town of Eski Mosul was liberated by the Kurds this year.  But Salim Ahmed, another resident and former Iraqi army member, still carries his "repentance card."

"When you arrived at the checkpoint, they asked 'Are you a police or an army member?' I said yes. Then they asked me for a repentance card," Ahmed recounted. "If you handed in the weapon you could go. If not they told you to bring a weapon or they'd put you in jail."

Even ordinary citizens have to have one, including English teachers because they once taught a "forbidden" language and tailors who used to create un-Islamic women's clothes.

For the millions trapped under the Islamic State's reign of terror, anyone who doesn't follow Sharia law is at risk.

The methods of ISIS control range from harassment to whipping, to mind-boggling evil. They sent Fadi Muhammad a CD showing his brother's beheading.

"I want to cross the front line so I can blow myself up among the Daesh, although I might die," Muhammad said. "But that doesn't satisfy me. So if I chop them into pieces, drink their blood, and eat their hearts from my hands, it won't take away my pain."

Residents say ISIS also drops leaflets telling women how to dress and issues permission forms for travel.

Falah Abdullah Jamil, a former ISIS prisoner, said the guards had their own cruel way to punish for vices such as smoking.

"For smokers, they'd put a piece of iron between your fingers and they'd break your fingers and they'd fine him 5,000 to 10,000 Iraqi dinar per cigarette," Jamil said.

Eski, Mosul may have been freed for now, but Saled Ahmed still keeps his repentance card in case ISIS returns.

"Now we are afraid because we live very close to their attack line," Ahmed said. "It's only half a kilometer away from here. They might come and ask me for my repentance card. If they go away, I can throw it away because I don't recognize this paper."