Basra recorded the most human trafficking cases in August, judiciary says

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s appeals courts recorded 183 human trafficking cases in August, 67 of them in Basra, the most of any jurisdiction, the Supreme Judicial Council said.

Baghdad’s Karkh appeals court was second with 40 and Diyala third with 12. Nineveh, Babil, Dhi Qar and Muthanna recorded none.

Courts also registered 307 violations of the Foreigners’ Residency Law, 204 of them in Baghdad’s Rusafa jurisdiction, followed by Karkh with 35 and Wasit with 26. Basra, Nineveh, Babil, Dhi Qar, Anbar, Maysan, Muthanna and Karbala recorded none.

Ten suicides were registered by the courts in the month, five of them in Nineveh, two in Diyala and one each in Rusafa, Najaf and Qadisiyah.

The Interior Ministry said security forces arrested 315 people on trafficking charges in the first quarter. In April, Baghdad’s Karkh Criminal Court jailed two women for six years under the 2012 anti-trafficking law after one of them sold her newborn for 8 million dinars.