The letter dating back to April 2017 contains a message from Baghdadi to the group’s high-ranking officials warning against tyrannizing the public and "spread justice" instead.
In the letter which was found by Rudaw reporter Hunar Ahmed in the Mishrefiya neighborhood in western Mosul the ISIS leader cites a saying from prophet Muhammad and tells his militants to act responsibly towards the public as they “are the representatives of the Caliphate.”
Baghdadi also urges emirs and leaders of the group to reach out to the needy people as he states “there is no barrier between God and the exploited.”
Rudaw’s Hunar Ahmed added: “There is a place in Misherfiya where ISIS used to treat its militants. We visited this location and ended up finding this letter inside houses.”
The group was cleared out of eastern Mosul in January and Iraqi and US military officials expect final victory in the western side of the city in the coming weeks.
Since its takeover of Mosul in June 2014 ISIS has committed horrendous crimes against civilians in areas under its control, especially against the Kurdish Yezidi community of Shingal.
Commenting on al-Baghdadi’s message, Dr. Mohammed Shakir, the dean of Islamic studies at Salahadin University in Erbil said that the letter is contrary to how ISIS has been treating people from the first day.
He said: “We have seen who is ISIS when treating people and torturing them in the most barbaric ways.”
