Life under Muslim rule: Islamic State has sanctioned the harvesting of human organs in a previously undisclosed ruling by the group's Islamic scholars, raising concerns that the violent extremist group may be trafficking in body parts

The ruling, contained in a January 31, 2015 document, says that taking organs from a living captive to save a Muslim's life, even if it is fatal for the captive, is permissible. "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 Islamic State's 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. Previously, Iraq has accused Islamic State of harvesting human organs and trafficking them for profit. The document does not define "apostate," though the Islamic State has killed or imprisoned non-Muslims, such as Christians. The fatwa sanctioning organ harvesting justifies the practice in part by drawing an analogy to cannibalism in extreme circumstances, a practice earlier Islamic scholars had allowed. "A group of Islamic scholars have permitted, if necessary, one to kill the apostate in order to eat his flesh, which is part of benefiting from his body," it says.