Sunday, February 05, 2023

Tiba al-Ali and Jassim al-Assadi

 As noted yesterday, Tiba al-Ali was murdered in Iraq by her own father.



SKY NEWS notes:

Dozens of Iraqi protesters gathered on Sunday to stand against the "honour killing" of a 22-year-old YouTube star - who was allegedly strangled by her father.

Tiba Ali was killed on 31 January in the central city of Diwaniyah.

[. . .]

Protesters gathered and held banners condemning the killing and demanding legislative reforms.

"There is no honour in the crime of killing women," one placard read.

"Anyone who wants to get rid of a woman accuses her of disgracing her dignity and kills her," protester Israa al-Salman told The Associated Press.


The ASSOCIATED PRESS?  Yes, SKY NEWS is using the AP's article.  Ali Abdul-Hassan and Salar Salim (AP) note:

Rosa al-Hamid, an activist with civil society group the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq urged the authorities to pass a long-stalled draft law against domestic violence that has been lingering in Iraqi Parliament since 2019.

“Tiba was killed by her father under tribal justifications that are unacceptable,” she told the AP.

Amnesty International Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Aya Majzoub said in a press statement said that violence against women and girls in Iraq will continue until “Iraqi authorities adopt robust legislation to protect women and girls from gender-based violence.”

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS covers it here -- mainly by taking from AP's reporting, as does STUFF.  By contrast, SANGRI TODAY notes:


According to local media, Tiba was sleeping in her room when her father strangled her to death. After this, he himself went to the police and confessed his crime. Everyone is surprised about this incident.
According to media reports, Tiba had travelled to Turkey with his family in 2017, after which he refused to return to Iraq. Some purported recordings of Tiba going viral on social media suggest that Tiba left her home after she was sexually abused by her brother.



The United Nations issued the following:

UN in Iraq condemns the killing of Tiba al-Ali and calls on all parties to protect women and girls from violence

05 February 2023

The United Nations in Iraq condemns the abhorrent killing of Tiba al-Ali, a 22-year-old woman. 

The avoidable death of Tiba is a regretful reminder of the violence and injustice that still exists against women and girls in Iraq today. So-called honour killing and other forms of gender-based violence violate human rights and cannot be tolerated. While some efforts have been taken by state institutions to combat these acts of violence against women, more needs to be done towards prevention, protection and accountability. We urge the Council of Representatives to strengthen the institutional framework, including repealing Articles 41 and Article 409 of Iraq’s penal code, and call for the enactment of a law that explicitly criminalizes gender-based violence, in accordance with international human rights standards, together with improved services for survivors and those at risk.

The United Nations calls on the Government of Iraq to support laws and policies to prevent violence against women and girls, take all necessary measures to address impunity by ensuring that all perpetrators of such crimes are brought to justice and the rights of women and girls are protected, so that they can live a life free from violence and discrimination.  


Meanwhile Chenar Chalak (RUDAW) reports:


A prominent Iraqi environmentalist was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen on the way to the capital Baghdad, his brother told Rudaw English on Sunday, as his whereabouts remains unclear.

Jassim al-Assadi has been a prominent voice of Iraq’s environmental civil society for years, raising awareness of the threats facing the country’s southern wetlands. He is the head of Nature Iraq, a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) accredited environmental group, working to preserve Iraq’s endangered marshes.

His brother, Nadhim al-Assadi, told Rudaw English that the activist was driving from Babil province towards Baghdad, accompanied by one of his cousins, on Wednesday when they were surrounded by two vehicles carrying a group of armed men wearing civilian clothing.







The following sites updated:






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