ISIS: Enslaving, having sex with 'unbelieving' women, girls is OK

Can you have sex with them, even prepubescent girls? Yes, according to the Islamist extremist group.

Can you sell them or give them as gifts to others? The answer is yes, once again.

People in Mosul -- the Iraqi city now under control of the group calling itself the Islamic State -- got these and other messages loud and clear after sunset prayers Friday, when armed men handed out a color-printed pamphlet "Question and Answers on Female Slaves and their Freedom," three residents told CNN.

"People started gathering in small groups chattering about this (document)," said one of the men, whom CNN didn't name for security reasons. "Most are shocked, but (we) cannot do much about it."

The document was first printed in October or November, then later posted on an ISIS website. It has gotten more publicity recently because of the Middle East Media Research Institute, an independent Washington-based nonprofit whose advisory board includes former National Security Agency Director Michael V. Hayden, onetime CIA Director James Woolsey and ex-U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The idea that ISIS is kidnapping, selling and raping women and children is hardly surprising. Many such accounts have surfaced since the group began its often brutal run through Syria and Iraq, including chilling stories from members of the Yazidi religious minority. And these are on top of other horrific allegations, such as the killings and mistreatment of innocent civilians simply because they didn't subscribe to ISIS' extreme take on Sharia law.

And that's the thing about ISIS: Its militants have justified their actions -- like the beheadings of journalists and aid workers -- in God's name.

Even then, it is rare to see its rationale laid out as plainly as in "Question and Answers on Female Slaves and their Freedom."

In the document, for instance, it is explained that capturing women is permissible if they are "nonbelievers." It adds, "Female slaves are the women that Muslims took from their enemies."

Much of the pamphlet talks about ISIS' policy on having sexual intercourse with a female slave, something that the group cites the Quran to justify.

(CNN)