Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/BAGHDAD: Iraqi activists protested to demand a law against domestic violence days after a father strangled a YouTuber daughter in a killing that has outraged the conservative country.
The 22-year-old Tiba al-Ali, was killed on 31 January by her father in the southern Iraqi province of Diwaniyah, said Saad Maan, the country’s interior ministry spokesman, on Twitter.
Maan said that to resolve a “family dispute, there had been an attempt to mediate between the young woman and her family.” Later, the father surrendered to the police and confessed to murdering his daughter.
According to an AFP correspondent who said security personnel barred them from protesting outside the building. Approximately 20 activists gathered at a road leading to the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq on Sunday.
Some individuals carried signs that read, “Stop killing women” and “Killers of Tiba must be brought to justice.”
The protester Rose Hamid, 22, told AFP, “We demand laws to safeguard women, especially against domestic violence. We came here to express our opposition to Tiba’s murder and all such murders. Who will be the next casualty?”
Another demonstrator, Lina Ali, said: “We will continue mobilizing because of rising killings of women and domestic violence.”
Hanaa Edwar, a human rights activist, was welcomed by a magistrate from the Supreme Judicial Council outside of the rally on Sunday. She addressed him with the demonstrators’ complaints.
Tiba al-Ali had been visiting Iraq since she moved to Turkey in 2017, according to a security official in Diwaniyah, and was assassinated there.
YouTuber had amassed a following
She had amassed a following in Turkey on YouTube by sharing films of her day-to-day activities in which her fiancé frequently appeared. A friend of Ali has shared recordings on social media picked up by activists, reportedly of conversations with the father, who was angry because she was living in Turkey.
She also blamed her brother for sexual harassment in the recordings. AFP was unable to independently confirm the voice tapes’ veracity.
