OCCUPIED MOSUL: Smuggled diary reveals life of fear under IS.

This morning my friend went out shopping and saw Isis executing three people because they’d been talking about Isis losses. It’s really shocking to hear news like that. They’re robbing people of their lives for trivial reasons. They are twisting the word of God for their own interests.

In the past I used to go out with my friends to the caves, to play football, or study together. But now most of the places we used to go are shut down. When I go out I try to be careful and not to go too far from home or to public places because it’s unsafe there.

Today my mother made some delicious cookies for us. You can sometimes buy the ingredients on the market, but they’re expensive. People here survive on local products which they grow themselves. It’s quite easy to get vegetables but it’s very difficult to get flour, sugar and rice because it’s expensive. People don’t have money. There’s no work, no salaries.

Free nations are endlessly inventive and surprising, but totalitarian regimes are all alike in their repression and deprivation.