ISIS says it threw 'gay' man off rooftop then stoned him to death

A Kurdish fighter watches Baretle village, which is controlled by the Islamic State, in Khazir, on the edge of Mosul, in this Sept 8, 2014 file photo. -- PHOTO: REUTERS 
A Kurdish fighter watches Baretle village, which is controlled by the Islamic State, in Khazir, on the edge of Mosul, in this Sept 8, 2014 file photo. -- PHOTO: REUTERS 

BEIRUT (AFP) - The Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Tuesday posted photographs appearing to show extremists throwing a "gay" man off a rooftop and then stoning him to death.

"The Islamic court in Wilayet al-Furat decided that a man who has practised sodomy must be thrown off the highest point in the city, and then stoned to death," read a statement accompanying the images.

Wilayet al-Furat refers to an area stretching across the Syrian-Iraqi frontier, where the Euphrates flows from Syria into Iraq at the Albu Kamal-Qaim border crossing.

One image shows a man whom ISIS claimed was gay being hurled off a building at an unspecified location in Syria or Iraq. The next shows the man lying on the ground.

In November, ISIS stoned two men to death in Syria, claiming they were gay.

The group first emerged in Syria's conflict in spring 2013. It has since taken over swathes of Syria and Iraq, imposing a rule of terror.

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