Islamic State militants publish rules for sex slaves in Iraq

Islamic State militants are distributing a pamphlet that describes female sex slaves as "merely property" and condones sex with girls who are yet to reach puberty.

The colour-printed guide, called 'Questions and Answers on Female Slaves and their Freedom', has been handed out in the occupied Iraqi city of Mosul, according to CNN.

The terrorist group cites the Koran and Sharia law as justification for enslaving and raping non-Muslim women and children, making clear that the captors have complete control of their captives.

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"It is permissible to buy, sell or give as a gift female captives and slaves, for they are merely property," says the pamphlet.

"It is permissible to have intercourse with the female slave who hasn't reached puberty if she is fit for intercourse. However, if she is not fit for intercourse, he [the owner] can only enjoy her without intercourse."

The guide forbids two men who co-own a slave from both having sex with her, and says a man cannot have sex with his wife's slave. A female slave can also buy her freedom or be freed by a captor looking to be forgiven for a sin, such as unintentional murder or perjury, says the pamphlet.

But it warns that a slave who runs away from their master would be committing one of "the gravest of sins".

A female slave can only be beaten for discipline purposes, not for the master's pleasure, it says, and a captive mother cannot be separated from her young children.

Arsalan Iftikhar, a human rights lawyer and senior editor at the Islamic Monthly, said "no Islamic scholar in their right mind anywhere around the world would ever, ever endorse" the "outlandish" pamphlet. He said it was "completely against the teaching of Islam".

Professor Bernard Freamon, from Seton Hall University law school, said the guidelines espoused by IS were "an affront to right-thinking Muslims everywhere and a criminal perversion of Islamic law, particularly its primary source, the glorious Koran".