Iraqis sell organs to make a living.

Om Hussein, like millions of other Iraqis, struggled to make ends meet for his family of six.

Oma Hussein, a mother of four, weeps because she is unable to provide for her family. Photo: BBC

According to the BBC, Ali, her husband, is both unemployed and suffers from diabetes and heart disease. Om has been the family's breadwinner for the past nine years, struggling to support the family by working as a domestic helper, but now she is exhausted and unable to work anymore.

"I'm so tired, we can't afford the rent, medicine, food, and essential supplies for the children," Om said, sitting in his makeshift bedroom in eastern Baghdad.

Their dilapidated house collapsed a few months ago, and her family has had to rely on the help of friends and relatives.

"I've done all kinds of jobs. From selling meat, working as a porter, to picking up trash. I told my son to pick up discarded bread for the whole family to eat, but I never begged for food or money," Ali added.

Faced with poverty, Om decided to make a sacrifice and sell his kidney.

"I've decided to sell my kidney," she said. "I can't work to support my family anymore. Selling my kidney is a better option than selling myself or living off pity."

The couple asked an illegal organ trafficker to sell their kidneys, but tests showed their organs were not suitable for transplantation. Disappointed, the couple considered another desperate solution.

"Because both of our bodies are in poor condition, we're thinking about selling our son's kidney," Ali said, his voice trembling, pointing to his 9-year-old son. "We'll do anything but beg for pity. Why did we end up in this situation?"

But in the end, they didn't sell their son's kidney, because just thinking about it broke the hearts of parents.

Organ trafficking

Poverty fuels the trade in kidneys and other organs in Baghdad. Of Iraq's population of approximately 30 million, 22.5% live in poverty, according to World Bank statistics from 2014.

Organ trafficking gangs often charge $10,000 for a kidney, viewing this impoverished country as a new hub for organ trafficking in the Middle East.

"This phenomenon is extremely common, but the authorities lack the capacity to address it," said Firas al-Bayati, a human rights lawyer.

"In the past three months, I've worked with 12 people who were arrested for selling their kidneys. Poverty was the reason they did it."

"Imagine this: An unemployed father with no money to support his children is forced to sacrifice himself. I consider him a victim and would defend him."

Ali is unemployed, suffers from diabetes and heart disease, and is unable to sell a kidney because he is not healthy enough. (Photo: BBC)

The Iraqi government passed a new law against human and organ trafficking in 2012. Under the new law, only relatives are allowed to donate organs to each other, and only by mutual agreement. However, organ traffickers often falsify the identification documents of both buyers and sellers, making them appear to be related by blood.

According to al-Bayaty, the penalties for organ trafficking range from three years imprisonment to the death penalty, and judges do not consider poverty as a mitigating factor.

"Forging identity documents is very easy. However, the government will soon introduce a new type of biometric identity card that cannot be forged."al-Bayaty said.

Business in the wrong direction

BBC reporters faced numerous difficulties in obtaining permission to visit a prison in Iraq, where they met a man arrested for trafficking kidneys. After passing through several security checkpoints, they met Mohammed. Ten other people convicted of organ trafficking were also imprisoned there.

"At first I didn't feel guilty," said Mohammed, who has two children.

"I considered it a humanitarian act. However, after a few months working in this industry, I began to question its ethics, stemming from the deplorable conditions of organ sellers. It pained me to see young people forced to do this for money."

Mohammed was arrested outside a public hospital in Baghdad in November 2015, after a police officer, posing as a buyer, apprehended him.

Surgeons in Iraq admit they cannot thoroughly review every kidney transplant case. (Photo: BBC)

The majority of illegal organ transplants are performed in private hospitals, particularly in the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq, he said. There are fewer restrictions there than in Baghdad.

However, organ transplants can still be performed in public hospitals. Even the surgeons themselves admit that it is very difficult to review the records of every kidney transplant case.

"There is no law in the world that stipulates that surgeons are responsible for this," said Rafed al-Akili, a surgeon at the Transplant and Kidney Disease Center in Baghdad.

"In fact, we had suspicions in some cases, but not enough to cancel the surgery because without the transplant the patient would die."

According to VNE