Iraq U.N. ambassador accuses ISIS of harvesting organs

Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday asked the Security Council to investigate allegations that ISIS is harvesting organs in order to finance its operations.

Ambassador Mohammad al-Hakim stated that over the past few weeks, bodies with missing kidneys and surgical incisions had been unearthed in shallow graves.

“We have bodies. Come and examine them,” he told reporters, according to The Telegraph. “It is clear they are missing certain parts.”

He added that dozens of doctors had been “executed” in Mosul, apparently because they had refused to take part in organ harvesting.

Meanwhile, the outgoing U.N. Envoy to Iraq Nikolay Mladenov noted increasing reports that ISIS was using organ harvesting, saying “it’s very clear that the tactics Isil is using expand by the day.”

“Especially worrying is the increasing number of reports of revenge attacks committed particularly against members of the Sunni community in areas liberated from [ISIS] control,” he added.

In February, the Pentagon stated that ISIS is no longer relying on oil as its main source of revenue to fund its terrorist activity.
“We know that oil revenue is no longer the lead source of their [ISIS’] income in dollars,” Pentagon spokesperson Rear Admiral John

Kirby told reporters during a press briefing.

ISIS’ loss of income is compounded by its losses on the battlefield as the group has “lost literally hundreds and hundreds of vehicles that they can’t replace,” Kirby said.

“They’ve got to steal whatever they want to get, and there’s a finite number.”

ISIS is instead depending on “a lot of donations” as one of the main sources of income. “They also have a significant black market program going on,” Kirby said.