By The European Times | Created at 2026-10-05 13:12:02 | Updated at 2026-10-06 16:59:33
1 day ago
A butcher was sentenced to 10 years in prison in one of Islam’s holiest cities in Iraq for selling pork to customers while passing it off as beef, AFP reported on 14th of September.
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council found the merchant guilty; he had been arrested for possessing 75 kilograms of pork in the city of Najaf, home to one of the major pilgrimage sites in Shia Islam.
Although the Islamic faith forbids the consumption of pork—which is considered unclean—Iraqi law does not restrict its sale in the Muslim-majority country, which is also home to a Christian minority.
The court based its verdict on a 1998 law that criminalizes “the sale of dog and donkey meat, as well as other types of animal meat unfit for human consumption.”
Millions of pilgrims from around the world gather in Najaf every year to pay their respects at the mausoleum of Imam Ali—the fourth Caliph of Islam, the first Shia Imam, and the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad—AFP notes.
Illustrative photo: pexels-luis-kuthe-3099301-18973339
