Who was Tiba-al-Ali, 22-year-old YouTube star whose ‘honour killing’ sparked outrage in Iraq

Tiba-al-Ali, a 22-year-old youtube star who was killed by her father in Iraq has sparked outrage in the country. Iraq is a conservative nation where so-called "honour killings" continue to occur. 

On January 31 in the southern province of Diwaniya, Tiba al-Ali was murdered by her father, according to a tweet from interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan on Friday.

Who was Tiba-al-Ali?
She had amassed a fan base on YouTube, where she shared videos of her day-to-day activities in which her fiance frequently made an appearance.

Al-Ali went to Turkey in 2017 with her family, but when they came back, she declined to go with them and rather stay in Turkey, where she has since lived.

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Social media is ablaze with anger over Al-Ali’s passing and Iraqis have called for a protest in the nation's capital, Baghdad, on Sunday to demand justice.

Al-Ali, who was visiting Iraq from Turkey, and her family had engaged in mediation efforts by police to resolve the family disagreement in a final manner, according to Maan.

Meanwhile, a police source who spoke to AFP under the condition of anonymity confirmed that the "family dispute" began in 2015.

She is said to have been drugged and taken back to the family home in Al-Qadisiyyah Governorate when she agreed to meet her mother at her friend’s place and suddenly the whole family turned up.

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When she was sleeping her father came into her room and killed her by strangling her.

Unverified audio recordings of al-Ali and her father seem to show that he disapproved of her choice to live alone in Turkey.

Maan said that after the police’s initial encounter with the family “we were surprised the next day … with the news of her killing at the hands of her father, as he admitted in his initial confessions”.

The father who is unnamed surrendered himself to local police and said that his daughter brought shame to the family.

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According to voice recordings allegedly belonging to the young woman, human rights lawyer Hanaa Edwar told AFP that  "she left her family... because she was sexually assaulted by her brother".

"Until the Iraqi authorities adopt robust legislation to protect women and girls... we will inevitably continue to witness horrific murders," said Aya Majzoub, deputy director of Amnesty International for the Middle East and North Africa.