Inside Syrian town living under al Qaeda reign of fear

Gaziantep, Turkey  -- Raqqa was, a matter of months ago, one of Syria's most liberal cities. Now locals call it Tora Bora. They say it's as if the Taliban of Afghanistan have taken over.

After months of bombardment by the regime and a chaotic lack of control by weak and divided moderate rebels, al Qaeda have found a broken society, made it their home, and imposed on it hardline Islamist law.

Each morning, activists told us, they seem to awake to a more conservative city. The "Bayanaat" or rulings sometimes appear on town walls. Many limit women's rights -- to walk alone, to style or show their hair. Other edicts come by word of mouth -- no smoking, no cameras. Behind them are often foreign jihadists from the al Qaeda linked militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

The fear that now grips the city can be felt in the shocking bruises on Adnan's body. Adnan, whose name has been changed out of fears for his safety, was behind some graffiti in Raqqa that told ISIS to get out. They caught him filming too, and dragged him into the burned-out ruins of a church they had torched and labeled as a new ISIS base.

Adnan was then taken to a nearby basement where the torture started. "Every 15 minutes, someone poured water on me, electrocuted me, kicked me, then walked out," he said. But his own pain, he said, he could handle, as his body eventually went numb. It was hearing the pain and the screams of other prisoners he knew that was the hardest. "When a person is tortured in front of you, you feel responsible. That's the hardest. One guy still inside used to call me Dad as I taught him about democracy," he said.

One ISIS video -- part of a high-definition, heavily produced social media channel that displays their ideals and exploits -- shows their militants driving through Raqqa at night. They pass a poster, put up by ISIS, encouraging women to wear the Islamic hijab or partial veil, to "cover their beauty".

The militants' goal, though, is reaching a cafe where they tell patrons smoking will be banned. Another video shows them burning not only marijuana, but also large numbers of cigarette cartons. Another shows an ISIS teacher -- his face blurred -- with a group of schoolchildren, all wearing ISIS's distinctive black headbands.