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Tunisia woman arrested for selling her 4 children

September 21, 2021 at 10:09 am

Tunisian mother and 3 of her children, sit in front of their house, in a popular neighbourhood of the eastern Tunisian port city of Sfax, on September 11, 2020 [HAMDI ZAGHDANE/AFP via Getty Images]

Tunisian authorities yesterday arrested a local woman who sold her four children, who she had outside of wedlock.

A judicial spokesman for Monastir and Mahdia provinces in Tunisia, Farid Bin Jeha, said the woman was arrested after it was revealed that she had deliberately given birth to the children with the intention of selling them to families wishing to adopt.

“The woman gave birth to the children out of wedlock, then married the father of some children, and when a dispute broke out between them, he reported the children’s sale,” he said.

The official added that the woman gave up two children for adoption, and handed over the other two to two families in exchange for money, which falls under the framework of “human trafficking”.

“One infant has been handed over to a children’s care home while the mother, the couple who forged the infant’s civil documents to register him as theirs as well as the parents who obtained a child for a fee have all been arrested and will be referred to trial under human trafficking laws,” he said, noting that they face up to 15 years in prison.

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