ISIS releases 19 Christian prisoners, others expected to be freed

(CNN) – When you think about ISIS, you may imagine the horrific images of their captives.

In the past, the terror group has kidnapped and raped women and children.

It has also publicly beheaded and set fire to captives.

However, ISIS recently released 19 Christian prisoners.

All but one of the Christians released were part of a group of 220 Assyrians who were captured last week, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

10 other Assyrian Christians are expected to be released.

The rights group says a Sharia judge asked the Christians if they were part of any militia.

When they said they were not, he pronounced them not guilty of violating Sharia law and ordered them to be released.

“ISIS has claimed for a long time to follow rules, and it claims that these Sharia courts will impose limits,” said Graeme Wood. “They can attempt to get credibility by showing that they follow rules and that they have some kind of transparent process that follows their particular implementation of Sharia law.”

The Christians had to agree to acknowledge the new ruling power of ISIS and to pay a tax.

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