Islamic State Video Shows Christian Prisoners in DRC Allegedly Released After Paying Islamic Tax to the Group

Video screenshot

Bottom Line Up Front

On 24 April 2026, Islamic State's official Amaq News Agency released a 1-minute 12-second video showing Christian prisoners in an unknown location in Ituri Province of DRC, before their release after paying Jizya (taxes imposed on non-Muslims who live under Muslim control) to the Islamic State (IS). The IS branch in DRC is Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP). 

Video content of ISCAP activity is relatively frequent and the group remains one of the biggest Jihadist threats to Africa. It explicitly states that it purposefully targets Christians in attacks and it is known for targeting what the group calls the "economy/economic activity of Christians" in DRC. This means using tactics such as arson to destroy Christian homes, businesses and vehicles. Their strategies and goals are clearly outlined in a video from September 2025. 

In Detail

The video shows an ISCAP fighter addressing the group of captured Christians in an unknown location. The video shows at least 50 young men in a forest clearing, and the fighter says: "Look at yourselves now. If we wanted to kill you here, who would save you from us after God's will?". The victims shake their heads and agree that there would be nobody to save them. The speaker is attempting to show the group that ISCAP is being merciful by highlighting that they could have killed the victims, but chose not to. 

The fighter next tells the group that if they leave the area and go through DRC army checkpoints, they will be killed and imprisoned by the army, implying that they will be mistaken for ISCAP terrorists and summarily arrested. The speaker appears to be making the point that trusting ISCAP cells in the area is a safer option than trusting the army and security forces. The security forces in the area do often rely on locals to provide them with information on where and when ISCAP fighters were spotted. 

This is a notable point in the video, because some of the victims respond by smiling and laughing either at the fact that the ISCAP speaker says that the victims will "make fools of themselves" when crossing through an army checkpoint in the area, or because the speaker did something off camera. It does sound like the speaker allows himself a smile and a short giggle, perhaps making some of the victims feel at ease. This is a very notable tactic by the speaker to get the victims on his side and is in stark contrast to ISCAP's usual highly-violent tactics. Verbal manipulation through making the situation seem less scary, drastic, and violent than it is, is a very effective technique for getting victims, who are undoubtedly in a state of extreme fear, on the side of their captors. 

The speaker goes on to ask the victims whether they heard the sound of an explosion and then poses the question to the group "What were they [the army/security forces] hitting?" The speaker really tries to engage the group, getting some of them to nod and vocalise in agreement of this alleged example of the army striking a target within earshot. The explosion cannot be heard in the video.

Next, the speaker says that the army will claim to the world that they destroyed ISCAP camps, which appears to illicit more laughing from some of the victims. This is according to the Arabic subtitles of the video, which could leave out some parts of what is actually being said. 

The video slowly fades out and ends, still showing the victims seated in the clearing.

Conclusion

This short video can tell us a lot about ISCAP activities in Ituri Province. 

IS claims in their title of the video that it was taken after the Christian prisoners had paid Jizya, which shows that this fundraising mechanism is still being used in this context. The collection of Jizya is not uncommon in DRC by ISCAP and this is not the first instance of this tactic's use. Since the video shows only men, it is possible that this group was working when they were captured, doing some kind of manual labour. They all appear to be wearing the same kind of boots and one man can be seen in a fluorescent jacket such as one would wear at a work site. The absence of women and children (though some of the men could be as young as 17 or 18) draws the eye. If this is a group of working men, women are unlikely to be present since their roles in rural DRC are usually taking care of children and the household. If there were women and children in the group, and the men are simply dressed in clothing for the forest conditions they live in, the women and obvious children have been removed from the site, separated from the men. This  hypothesis seems less likely, but does fit the narrative of the video that ISCAP is showing mercy to this group of victims, because viewers are more likely to be critical of ISCAP if they show that they captured women and children. Indeed, the whole video seeks to frame ISCAP as non-violent and merciful, perhaps to gain online followers to whom such content appeals or to spread the word among local Christians in Ituri that ISCAP is merciful and that the threat to Christians comes from state forces. Objectively though, ISCAP remains a highly-dangerous Jihadist group that explicitly targets and kills Christians in DRC. Even by "merely" asking these victims to pay them money in exchange for letting them continue to live as Christians, their malicious motives of imposing Sharia law and an Islamic Caliphate on everyone around them (and ultimately on the entire world) remains abundantly clear.  

Christians across Africa are systemically targeted by Islamic State on the continent and IS itself states that their victims' Christian faith is the reason for their killing and/or targeting. Christian victims being forced to pay Jizya is much less commonly reported by IS than the killing of Christians and the arson of their belongings, including their homes. Security forces are also targeted by ISCAP, but this video reinforces IS's deliberate targeting of Christians in its ongoing quest to establish an Islamic Caliphate. 

Generally, despite facing similar or worse terrorist threats, the developing world outside the Middle East is not given nearly the same amount of public and media attention as the Middle East, and it remains highly concerning in this context that IS in Africa continue to achieve their long-term goal which is to "remain and expand". Public and media attention have far-reaching implications and consequences such as the support and/or deployment of counter-terrorism forces and humanitarian support for communities vulnerable to terrorist recruitment, which could literally be the difference between life and death in certain contexts.