Iraqi man, woman arrested for 'attempting to sell five-year-old son'

The pair were detained on charges of trafficking their five-year-old son, Iraq's ministry of interior said in a statement on Saturday.

Action was taken against the perpetrators after intelligence of the attempted sale was shared with authorities, the statement added.

The couple allegedly put their son up for sale for some 10 million Iraqi dinars, or $7,000, in the affluent Karrada district of Baghdad.

It is unclear why they resorted to selling their child, but the shocking crime prompted outrage among the public. 

In October, an Iraqi woman caused similar uproar in Iraq after a video emerged showing her throwing her two children from the Al-Aimmah Bridge along the Tigris River in the capital.

The woman, who was arrested shortly after committing the heinous crime, was seen walking along the bridge with her children at night before throwing them in, one by one.

The Iraqi ministry of interior in a statement said it was triggered by a dispute with her ex-husband, without providing further information.

According to an Iraqi paralegal on Twitter, the couple had divorced three months earlier and the husband had been granted custody of their children.

Another video that surfaced online showed the distraught father tearfully shouting for his children at the scene of the crime.

Read also: Dark crimes spotlight Iraqi women's mental health epidemic

The bodies of the three-year-old boy and his two-year-old sister were later recovered by rescue teams.

The crime shook the nation, with many calling on authorities to implement the harshest punishment against the mother who confessed to her actions.

"What is the children's fault in their dispute?" one Twitter user said.

"This is not a mother - since when do mothers have the heart to do this?" another user said.

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