When Mariam Muhammad got home from work to find that her husband had sold her baby, she finally gave in. The family had already lost most of what they owned - driven from their home during the sectarian violence of 2006, robbed of what little money they had by insurgents.
Her husband had lost his job as a salesman; what little income they had depended on her work as a housekeeper in Baghdad.
They argued long and hard about selling their youngest to put food on the table for their other two children - Mariam objected, threatened divorce; he was undeterred and while she was out, he handed the nine-month-old boy over to traffickers for a fee of £300. Mariam swallowed a bottle of pesticide and died.
"She was a very dedicated mother to her children but couldn't stand the idea of having a child gone because of her husband's inability to get a job," said a close friend.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/06/iraq-child-trafficking-case-study
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