Islamic State militants have 'crucified', lashed and held in metal cages scores of alleged non-fasters including children in several Syrian provinces during Ramadan, a monitoring group reported on Thursday.
The UK-based Syrian Human Rights Observatory said it had documented 94 cases of such barbaric punishments, which included five children and two old men.
Two children were crucified on 23 June in Deir al-Zour, the watchdog said without stating their ages or sex.
The punishments were meted out in streets and squares in areas of Syria's northern Aleppo and al-Raqqa provinces and eastern Deir Ezzor province controlled by IS, where onlookers were encouraged to mock the 'non-fasters', the watchdog said.
The Observatory relies for its information on a network of activists and doctors inside Syria.
IS, an Al-Qaeda splinter group, which controls swathes of territory in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, applies a radical interpretation of Islamic Sharia law in which beheadings, stonings, floggings and crucifixions are carried out.
Devout Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to sunset in the lunar month of Ramadan, which is expected to end Thursday depending on the sighting of the new moon.
Children are encouraged to fast during Ramadan starting as young as aged 7. Fasting becomes mandatory when children enter puberty.
