Iraqi ambassador claims ISIS is harvesting organs for money


Iraqi Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim asked the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to investigate claims that ISIS is harvesting organs to sell on the black market.
Alhakim said that bodies are turning up in ditches around Iraq with surgical incisions and missing kidneys, CNN reports, and since ISIS has taken over several airports, they are able to fly the organs in and out of the country. He also said that a dozen doctors were killed in Mosul for not going along with the gruesome plan. "This is clearly something bigger than we think," he said.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told CNN, "At this point we're not in a position to corroborate what he says, but obviously any source of illegal financing of groups such as ISIS or other extremist groups is extremely worrisome." Britain's ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant, said the issue has not been discussed, and there is no proof or evidence that organ trafficking is taking place.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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