Rukmini Callimachi on Twitter: "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 cig… https://t.co/eacll2q96c"

@rcallimachi

Correspondent for The New York Times, covering ISIS. NBC contributor. Previously, seven years in West Africa. Ex-AP bureau chief. Ex-refugee.

New York, New York

Joined April 2009

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Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

Replying to @rcallimachi

5. Let me just say that I'm a California girl through & through & I hate 2nd hand smoke but it was obvious that smoking for this man=freedompic.twitter.com/05uGKM0EUr

21 replies 209 retweets 729 likes

Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

Replying to @rcallimachi

6. That's when Mohamed began describing the lengths he took to find cigarettes under ISIS & the thrill it gave him to break their rules.pic.twitter.com/WyI15Kp0ee

7 replies 208 retweets 570 likes

Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

Replying to @rcallimachi

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

13 replies 155 retweets 381 likes

Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

Replying to @rcallimachi

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

6 replies 85 retweets 294 likes

Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

Replying to @rcallimachi

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

4 replies 83 retweets 283 likes

Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

Replying to @rcallimachi

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

2 replies 69 retweets 247 likes

Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

Replying to @rcallimachi

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

4 replies 155 retweets 446 likes

Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

Replying to @rcallimachi

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

11 replies 65 retweets 241 likes

Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

Replying to @rcallimachi

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

1 reply 59 retweets 206 likes

Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

Replying to @rcallimachi

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

7 replies 130 retweets 228 likes

Rukmini Callimachi‏Verified account @rcallimachi 20 Apr 2017

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