Iraqis protest after dad’s alleged ‘honor’ slay of YouTube daughter

Protesters took to the streets of Baghdad on Sunday, calling for an end to violence against female family members, just days after a 21-year-old YouTuber was allegedly strangled to death by her father.

Tiba al-Ali was killed last Tuesday in the central city of Diwaniyah, Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan said Friday.

Al-Ali, who was known for sharing videos of her daily life on social media, was visiting Iraq from Turkey, where she had lived since 2017.

She had traveled to see her family to resolve a “family dispute,” Maan said.

Her father, who hasn’t been named, confessed to the killing and turned himself in to the police. He was reportedly upset with her decision to live alone in Turkey, Al Jazeera reported, citing unverified recordings between the two.

The woman’s death sparked demonstrations in the Iraqi capital, with people calling for justice and demanding the judiciary change Article 409 of Iraq’s penal code, which softens sentences of fathers and brothers who murder their family members in so-called “honor killings.”

“Anyone who wants to get rid of a woman accuses her of disgracing her [family] and kills her,” said one of the protesters, Israa al-Salman.

Some demonstrators carried signs that read, “There is no honor in the crime of killing women.”

Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said such “horrific murders” will continue to happen unless authorities “adopt robust legislation to protect women and girls from gender-based violence.”

Currently, there is “no effective system in place for reporting domestic violence nor adequate shelters to protect women and girls,” she said.

“This crime won’t be the last crime as long as Iraqi society keeps these norms,” Iraqi activist Asma al-Awsi told Al Jazeera.