1. Yesterday, my team made it to the furthest point I've gone northwest of Mosul to the locality of Badoosh, where we interviewed residents:pic.twitter.com/N6m49qGf1d
-
7. This brand was the only 1 smuggled into ISIS territory. A packet used to cost 750 dinars or $0.63. Under ISIS, it spiked to 20,000 or $17pic.twitter.com/cLYk9Pqaoi
8. He couldn't afford $17. So he & 4 friends pooled money to buy 1 pack of 20 cigarettes. Here's how he broke them up 2 make them last:pic.twitter.com/seLDwpUida
-
-
9. He said he and his buddies used to go out with their cows into the fields and smoke covering their faces like this to reduce the smoke:pic.twitter.com/8OCixf8dnQ
-
10 Then they used to brush their teeth & spritz each other with perfume before heading back. At a checkpoint he said an ISIS guy sniffed him
-
11 The day ISIS left, he chainsmoked 4 packs. Now he proudly wears his smokes. "I just like to walk around holding it in my hand bc I can."pic.twitter.com/fI6Jg8I3DG
-
12. In the next house we visited, I saw a young man walking in with a carton of the same cigarettes:pic.twitter.com/YbFUvtLOsZ
-
13. He too described pooling money with 4-5 friends. One carton like this cost over $100, which used to be the salary of an ISIS fighter
-
14. ISIS punished smoking with 20 lashes. It was a punishment he could face, he said. By the end, he claims ISIS began chopping fingers
-
15. I've not seen that in ISIS media, but I heard it from 3 families in Badoosh. They claim ISIS chopped off the 2 fingers used to hold cigpic.twitter.com/WPcNqFMXrL
-
16. In all I interviewed 6 ppl who'd smoked in defiance of IS' ban. "I'm addicted," said 1. "But I also wanted to do it to show resistance."pic.twitter.com/dCP2owxJsn
-
17. I headed back in the early evening, passing this pretty, abandoned village. In another time, this could have been a tourist spot:pic.twitter.com/omtzm9uqDV
- 2 more replies
New conversation -
-
strange they didnt try growing tobacco..?
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. Undo -
$17 a pack? Living under ISIS is even worse than living under Bloomberg!
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. Undo -
I don't know who either of you are, his face says much. Enough that maybe some that lost so much in the fight will see why the fight goes on
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. Undo -
DeBlasio is aiming for $17/pack. Maybe go back to NY and tell him about how for this man smoking = freedom. Or do we want more Eric Garners
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. Undo
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.