Amman– The Iraqi Criminal and Integrity Court has sentenced contractor Faisal Asaad Al-Khudairi to seven years in prison and confiscated his property after he was  convicted in connection with a school building corruption case.

Asaad Al-Zalzali, with support from Arab Reporters for investigative Journalism (ARIJ), broke the story of how the Iraqi government squandered $200 million meant to erect 1,700 schools. His investigation on “Project No.1” won a Samir Kassir Award for Press Freedom this year.

Over the last decade years, ARIJ has trained more than 1,968 journalists, professors, students, and established investigative units in Jordan, Tunisia, Palestine, Yemen, Egypt, and Lebanon. The network helped launch local investigative stations in Iraq, Yemen, Tunisia, Palestine, and Syria. It also oversaw the publication of more than 400 investigative reports via Arab and International Satellite Channels such as BP, Aljazeera (English), Deutche Velle (Arabic), and New Arab.