ERBIL () - An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced a butcher to 10 years in prison after authorities found him selling pork as beef in Najaf, one of Iraq's most important Shia Muslim pilgrimage cities, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said the man was found in possession of 75 kilograms of pork that he had been presenting to customers as beef.
"Najaf Criminal Court has sentenced a convicted person to 10 years in prison for selling meat not suitable for human consumption,"the council said, according to AFP.
The case drew particular attention because it occurred in Najaf, home to the shrine of Imam Ali, the Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law, the fourth Islamic caliph and the first Imam in Shia Islam. Millions of pilgrims visit the city every year.
Islam prohibits the consumption of pork, which is considered impure under Islamic dietary rules. Iraqi law, however, does not explicitly prohibit the sale of pork in the Muslim-majority country, which also has Christian communities.
Instead, the court relied on a 1998 law criminalizing the sale of certain types of meat deemed unsuitable for human consumption.
According to AFP, the legislation covers the sale of "dog or donkey or other meat"considered unfit for people to eat.
The butcher had been arrested earlier this month before Monday's sentencing.
The incident quickly became a subject of widespread discussion on Iraqi social media.
Some users called for stronger food-safety inspections and tighter monitoring of meat sold to consumers, while others reacted with humor, circulating videos of pigs accompanied by jokes referencing Najaf.
The case also prompted accounts from residents who said they had unknowingly bought meat from the shop.
Najaf resident Ahmad al-Mansouri told AFP that he had purchased a kilogram of ground meat from the butcher and found it both cheaper than comparable meat elsewhere and, in his assessment, of unusually good quality.
He subsequently became a regular customer.
"We were surprised when he was arrested on charges of selling pork,"Mansouri told AFP.
Joking about the discovery, he said he now suspected he may have consumed more pork than beef or lamb over the years.
His experience reflected the central issue in the case: customers were allegedly not simply purchasing pork but were being led to believe they were buying beef.
The supplied reporting does not detail how long the butcher had been selling the meat, where the pork had been obtained or how investigators discovered the operation.
It also does not indicate whether other people were investigated in connection with the case.
Monday's ruling nevertheless closes the initial criminal proceedings against the butcher with a substantial prison term, while the unusual circumstances surrounding the case have broadened public discussion beyond religious sensitivities to questions of food labeling, consumer protection and inspection of meat sold in Iraqi markets.
