Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in the city of Mosul have shut down family planning departments at public hospitals in order to prevent women from using contraceptive pills, the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry said on Monday.

ISIS has also ordered hospital administrators to direct the use of medicine and medical equipment to their wounded members after losses suffered in recent battles, the ministry added.

According to the ministry, ISIS militants recently lashed a female doctor in the courtyard of one hospital because she wasn't wearing the niqab, a veil covering most of the face.

In recent months, former U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay condemned "appalling, widespread" crimes being committed by ISIS forces in Iraq, including killings, slavery, sexual crimes and targeting people on ethnic or religious grounds.

The persecution and systematic violations, documented by U.N. human rights investigators, would amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes under international law, she said in a statement.

*Al Arabiya