The Muslim jihadists running ISIS already have been documented shooting, drowning, burning, crucifying, beheading, raping and blowing up victims. And they’ve been suspected of trafficking in human organs in the past.
Now, a new report cites social media conversations that appear to tie sex slavery to organ trafficking.
The Middle East Media Research Institute cited social media reports in which “ISIS fighters and supporters openly discuss” not only sex slaves and “the going prices for them” but also “other issues relating to them – such as possible trafficking in human organs.’
The report explains: “On Sept. 3, 2014, prior to its official acknowledgement in Dabiq that it had enslaved women, a group of French ISIS fighters discussed, on Facebook, the cost and handling of female slaves. Judging from the conversation, it seems that Yazidi slaves were being held in both Mosul, Iraq, and Al-Raqqa, Syria.”
MEMRI said the exchange may also confirm speculation that ISIS is trafficking in human organs, which the U.N. sought to investigate in 2015.
“While fighters online may occasionally discuss prices and the practice of taking slaves, it should be noted that slave prices have never officially been released,” the report said.
The majority of the report focused on the sex slavery of women captured by ISIS.
MEMRI said ISIS denies opponents’ accusations that their fighters enslave the wives of members of rival groups.
“The group maintains that they do not enslave Sunni Muslims; however, they do allow the enslavement of unbelievers and infidels. If the claims are true that ISIS has, in fact, captured the wives of Sunni rebel fighters, they may rationalize this by labeling them as infidels – simply because they disagree with ISIS dogma.”
In one missive, a Western fighter called Hanafi Muhaajir promoted Muslim marital values and threatened to enslave and rape Western women.
The message said: “Kuffar especially Americans marry and fornicate with animals, we Muslims marry more than one woman and we are the ones with the problem. Not only will we marry up to 4 wives but soon we will take your women as slaves, and have our way with them, as and when we please.”
WND reported first on the trafficking claims in 2014.
At that time, the Iranian news source Al-Alam said the chief of forensic pathology at Damascus University told the Syrian al-Watan that there have been more than 18,000 organ trafficking cases in the northern part of Syrian in recent years.
The report from Hossain Noufel said many of the victims are children.
“Syrian people … are now dealing with organ traffickers who are slicing off their own share from the unfortunate Syrian families,” the report said.
And according to BioEdge, which monitors bioethics developments around the world, a physician from Mosul at that time told the publication Al-Monitor that large-scale organ-harvesting is taking place in local hospitals and that ISIS “was reaping significant profits from the scheme.”
The BioEdge report said the doctor, Siruwan Al-Mosuli, reported physicians were being hired to perform rapid organ removal operations from “recently deceased jihadis or captives.”
They are then “swiftly” moved to local or foreign buyers, the report said.
The BioEdge report said the doctor reported ISIS even has a specialized force that deals with organ trafficking.
The report said allegations of human organ trafficking are not uncommon in “bitter conflicts” such as the ISIS aggression in Syria and Iraq, and a number of other sources corroborate the claims.
It cited the Al-Alam report and another at Vocativ.com.
Al-Monitor reported ISIS funding includes revenue from “oil and human trafficking mafias.”
“According to sources in Mosul, the money supplied internally is allocated to local and foreign fighters, to encourage them to join up and continue fighting. IS took control of Mosul in June and then expanded in August to control large swaths of the country,” the report said.
“Residents of Mosul say that the sale of oil extracted from wells controlled by the organization in both Iraq and Syria has provided a sustained source of funding. The organization also opened trade canals through Kurdish [territories in] Iraq and Turkey, with the help of Kurdish, Turkish and Iranian traders.”
Al-Monitor said other income is from “protection fees” and even more nefarious schemes, such as organ trafficking.
Said the report then: “The third funding source was exposed by otolaryngologist Siruwan al-Mosuli. He said that lately he noticed unusual movement within medical facilities in Mosul. Arab and foreign surgeons were hired, but prohibited from mixing with local doctors. Information then leaked about organ selling. Surgeries take place within a hospital and organs are quickly transported through networks specialized in trafficking human organs. Mosuli said that the organs come from fallen fighters who were quickly transported to the hospital, injured people who were abandoned or individuals who were kidnapped.”
Al-Monitor continued: “He said that organ sales yield large profits. A specialized mafia is engaged in these operations, in addition to medical institutions working in other countries. Without coordination among these parties, such a trade cannot be sustained, he said. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the organization sells bodies and organs of injured people they arrest.”
At Al-Alam, Noufel said traffickers find easy pickings because refugee camps are not supervised by the United Nations.
