Protesters call for a law against domestic violence
Photo: REUTERS
A wave of popular outrage is rising in Iraq, writes Al Jazeera. In early February, a man went to the police station in the southern province of Diwaniyah with a frank confession: he confessed that he had strangled his own daughter. The victim was 22-year-old YouTuber Tiba al-Ali. The girl in her vlog talked about her daily life, sometimes showing her fiancé to her subscribers.
The girl has lived in Turkey since 2017, but on this grim winter day she was visiting relatives in Iraq. Then a family scandal broke out. Tiba’s father reportedly stated that he was not happy with her decision to live alone in Turkey, after which a fight broke out. The police had to separate the relatives.
It seemed that after that the father and daughter should have taken a break to fix the relationship and take a breather, but no. The next day, al-Ali himself went to the police with a shocking confession: he personally killed his daughter.
On Sunday, anti-domestic violence protesters tried to rally outside Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council. But the public order authorities prevented him. The activists carried signs reading “Stop killing women” and “Tiba’s killer must be held accountable.” Some felt that imprisonment was too lenient for al-Ali and called for the murderous father’s execution.
The protesters demand that a law be introduced to protect women from domestic violence. There is currently no such law in Iraq. For the first time, such an initiative was presented to Parliament in 2014, but its consideration stalled due to opponents of this proposal. They believe that such a law would “destroy the social fabric of Iraq.”
Let’s remember that previous demonstrations swept through Iran, where for several months protesters supported women’s rights and freedoms. This happened after Mahsa Amini died at the police station, arrested by the vice police for allegedly wearing the wrong hijab. Protests against the violation of women’s rights in Iran spread throughout the world.