Reuters publishes Islamic State letter justifying organ trafficking
While Reuters claims it couldn’t validate the authenticity of the letter, the Islamic State memo published by the news agency sanctions and justifies the harvesting of human organs to save a Muslim’s life.
This should confirm previous reports and raise more concerns that the violent extremist group may be trafficking in body parts and that refugees into other areas of the world could be dangerous and have evil motives.
The fatwa ruling, contained in a January 31, 2015 document reviewed by Reuters, says taking organs from a living captive to save a Muslim’s life, even if it is fatal for the captive, is permissible.
For the English translation of the document, click here.
Photo/Sawso.org
U.S. officials say it was among a plethora of data and other information obtained by U.S. special forces in a raid in eastern Syria in May.
“The apostate’s life and organs don’t have to be respected and may be taken with impunity,” says the document, which is in the form of a fatwa, or religious ruling, from the ISIS’ Research and Fatwa Committee.
“Organs that end the captive’s life if removed: The removal of that type is also not prohibited,” Fatwa Number 68 says, according to a U.S. government translation.
The document does not define “apostate,” though Islamic State has killed or imprisoned non-Muslims, such as Christians, and Shiite Muslims, as well as Sunni Muslims who don’t follow its extremist views.
U.S. officials say the records that were seized have given the U.S. government a deep look into how IS organizes, raises funds and codifies laws for its followers.
Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations, Mohamed Ali Alhakim, told Reuters the documents should be examined by the U.N. Security Council as evidence that IS could be trafficking in organs to raise cash.
