Iraq is in turmoil. A 22-year-old Iraqi YouTuber was killed by her father in a largely patriarchal country where feminicides committed in the name of “honor” are not uncommon.
Tiba al-Ali died on the night of January 31 to February 1 in the province of Diwaniya (south), said Friday on Twitter Saad Maan, spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior. According to him, the police had previously attempted mediation between the young woman and her relatives to “definitively resolve the family dispute” between them.
In recordings of their conversations shared on social networks, we can hear how his father is upset that Tiba al-Ali lives alone in Turkey. The latter then accuses her brother of having sexually harassed her.
His father’s confession
Saad Maan explained that a police unit following social issues had intervened. The day after a first meeting, “when we were to see them again, we were surprised by the news of the murder by his father, who made an initial confession after giving himself up to the police”, he said. precise. Asked by AFP, an official of the security services of Diwaniya confirmed that “family disputes” dating back to 2015 were at the origin of the tragedy.
The family had traveled to Turkey in 2017. But upon returning to Iraq, Tiba al-Ali had refused to join his relatives. She had since been living in Turkey, according to the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Her murder took place while she was visiting Iraq.
Patriarchal society
On her YouTube account, the young woman shared videos of her daily life in which her fiancé very often appeared. The drama caused an outcry and activists called for protests outside a Baghdad court on Sunday. Lawyers and activists fight to defend the often trampled rights of women. They denounce the inaction of the authorities in the face of domestic violence, early marriages and so-called “honour” crimes.
“Women in our societies are held hostage to backward customs due to the absence of dissuasive laws and government measures that are not commensurate with the scale of domestic violence,” the former Kurdish MP said on Twitter. Ala Talabani. “Until the Iraqi authorities have adopted strong enough legislation to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, we will continue to witness murders as appalling as that of Tiba Ali”, reacted Friday Aya Majzoub, regional director assistant at Amnesty International.