US dollars
According to media reports, the father was contacted by his friend who asked if he could buy his child for $30,000. Image Credit: Agency

Dubai: An Iraqi man has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for selling his child for $30,000 in Baghdad, Iraqi media reported.

In a statement, the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq said that the Rusafa Criminal Court in Baghdad issued a ten-year prison sentence against a father for selling his three-year-old son for a $30,000 in Baghdad.

According to media reports, the father was contacted by his friend who asked if he could buy his child for $30,000.

As soon as the human trafficking case came to light, the father was arrested and sentenced according to the Iraqi Human Trafficking Law.

This is not the first time a child has been offered for sale in Iraq. In January this year, an Iraqi couple was arrested after they attempted to sell their 5-year-son for $7,000.

“Intelligence information revealed a human trafficking operation through the sale of a child by his parents. And immediately a technical team was formed from the Organised Crime Intelligence Directorate,” the ministry of interior said in a statement.

The statement added: “After the intensification of the intelligence effort, the couple was arrested in the Karrada district, downtown Baghdad, while selling their 5-year-old son for 10 million dinars (approximately $7,000). The parents were remanded in police custody and legal measures are being taken against them.”