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Iraqi police arrest man who sold his 6-year-old daughter

March 6, 2017 at 2:43 pm

Iraqi police [Cpl. Antonio Rosas/Wikipedia]

Police in Iraq have arrested a man who sold his six-year-old daughter in Baghdad for nearly $10,000, an officer told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

“Following interrogation, the police reached the buyers who run a human trafficking network,” the office said, adding that the girl was moved to a children’s shelter.

According to the officer this is the third incident of its kind in nearly a year.

Read: 25 children starve to death in Iraq near Mosul

Several stories have emerged of Iraqi people selling their children or committing suicide with them, especially in Baghdad and cities south of the country, according to local reports due to aggravate hunger and destitution.

Some 35 per cent of Iraqis live in abject poverty, according to official figures released at the end of last year, while the unemployment rate has reached 29 per cent.