( CNN ) It 's not hard to get into Raqqa . The problem , one prominent activist tells CNN , is getting out . Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi 's voice is calm and measured as he describes life inside the city ISIS claims as the capital of its so-called caliphate . But the horrors he details are harrowing . Airstrikes . Executions . Forced blood donations and marriages to ISIS fighters . Al-Raqqawi is n't his real name . It 's the identity the former medical student who helped found an activist group called `` Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently '' uses to speak out . ISIS fighters have already tortured and executed one member of the group , he says , and they 've made it clear they want the others involved dead . Still , al-Raqqawi tells CNN 's Brooke Baldwin that wo n't stop him from sharing what he sees . `` I lost my life ... I do n't have school . I do n't have a future . I do n't have anything , but I did n't want that for me or for my city , '' he says . `` It 's the situation forcing me to do this . I do n't want to be famous . I do n't want everybody to know who I am or what I 'm doing . It 's just for my city and for my family and for the innocent civilians . ... We are trying our best . We are trying to save our city . '' Here 's a look at some of the things al-Raqqawi has told CNN he and others from the activist group have seen in Raqqa . CNN has n't independently confirmed his claims , but his account provides a rare glimpse into the dramatic transformation of a city once known as one of Syria 's most liberal . In two months at least 40 people have been executed in Raqqa , al-Raqqawi says , for charges including being a fighter for the Free Syrian Army , being gay or killing others . Activists , he says , are also targeted . `` If you are an activist ... inside the city of Raqqa , it will take you to death , '' he says . In Raqqa , al-Raqqawi says , a day might start out with a trip to court over a home robbery , and end up with a forced blood donation . `` If you have anything in the Islamic court , they say , 'Go to the hospital and donate your blood and bring me the receipt , and if you do n't have it , I ca n't help you , '' he says . `` They say to you , 'We ca n't help you until you go to the hospital . There ( are ) a lot of airstrikes , a lot of injured ISIS fighters . ' '' For women , al-Raqqawi says , the city is `` like a big prison . '' They are not allowed to leave the city if they are younger than 45 years old . And he says his activist group has documented more than 270 cases of girls forced to marry ISIS fighters . `` ISIS fighters are really sex-mad . ... Some of them have two and three wives , and even with that they are trying to find slaves from Yazidi girls , '' he says . An effort to repaint buildings in bright colors is n't what you 'd expect to see in a square known as the site of executions , beheadings and crucifixions . But al-Raqqawi says that 's just what happened in Raqqa several weeks ago . The change is particularly notable , he says , because when ISIS first came to the city they painted buildings black . Now , al-Raqqawi says the fresh coats of pink , white , gold and green paint could be a sign that ISIS is trying to make buildings less of a target for coalition airstrikes . `` There is a big wall between the civilians and foreign fighters . It 's like two different lives inside the city of Raqqa , '' al-Raqqawi says . `` Yes it 's heaven for some of these foreign fighters , because they give them a lot of money . They give them the fancy houses . They give them the fancy cars . '' But for some , it 's not the paradise they imagined , al-Raqqawi says . Rumors swirl , he says , about foreign fighters being killed after trying to defect . `` ISIS takes their passports and if anyone tries defection from this , they will kill them immediately , '' he says . `` The problem , it 's not how to go inside the city of Raqqa . The problem is how to get out . ''
` ` We are trying to save our city , '' an activist told CNN 's James Baldwin . ' Ibrahim al - Hassan describes forced displacement and blood ##shed .