Isis reportedly executes 3 men for not adhering to Sharia laws in Libyan town of Sirte

The Islamic State (Isis) is reported to have publicly executed three men in the Libyan town of Sirte for not obeying their Sharia interpretation of blasphemy, banditry and apostasy. Four other men were also beaten mercilessly in full public view for drinking alcohol, which is against Sharia laws.

The Daily Mail reports that pictures of the execution were released on an anonymous content sharing website with hash tags that say IS (Daesh) in Arabic. The post is titled 'Implementing punishment in the city of Sirte.'

The pictures show crowds witnessing the executions, as an IS member who looks like a cleric reads out the crimes committed by the men. Seven individual pictures follow, each captioned with the crime the men committed ranging from stealing, deserting Islam to drinking alcohol.

The post also mentions that the men belonged to a militia loyal to Khalifa Haftar – the UN-backed government general known for fighting the IS and its allies in Libya. Haftar was made commander of the forces of the internationally recognised Tobruk government in March 2015.

Daesh has taken advantage of the infighting and chaos in Libya after the fall of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi to gain a firm foothold in the country. At present, the jihadist group has close to 3,000 fighters in Sirte and has imposed strict rules similar to those at their de-facto capital in Raqqa, Syria.