When a guy kills a YouTuber's daughter, protests break out.

 

Days after a YouTuber was strangled by her father in a killing that drew anger in the conservative nation, Iraqi activists marched on Sunday to call for a legislation against domestic violence.

On January 31 in the southern province of Diwaniyah, Tiba al-Ali, 22, was murdered by her father, according to a tweet from interior ministry spokesperson Saad Maan on Friday.

Maan said that there had been an attempt to settle a "family conflict" between the young woman and her kin. Later, the father turned himself in to the police and admitted to killing his daughter.

An AFP journalist said that on Sunday, security personnel stopped some 20 activists from holding a protest outside the Supreme Judicial Council of the nation and forced them to congregate along a road leading to the structure.

Some people carried signs that said, "Stop murdering women," and "Tiba's killer must be brought to justice."

Rose Hamid, a 22-year-old demonstrator, told AFP: "We demand legislation to safeguard women, notably laws against domestic abuse."

"We came here to express our opposition to Tiba's murder and all such murders. Who will suffer harm next?"

"We will keep mobilising because of escalating domestic abuse and deaths of women," said Lina Ali, another demonstrator.

Human rights advocate Hanaa Edwar was welcomed by a magistrate from the Supreme Judicial Council outside of Sunday's rally, to whom she addressed the demonstrators' complaints.

In a statement released on Sunday, the United Nations mission in Iraq denounced Ali's "abhorrent murder" and urged the Baghdad administration to pass "a legislation that specifically criminalises gender-based violence."

Ali had been visiting Iraq and had just moved to Turkey, a security officer in Diwaniyah told AFP.

She had amassed a following in Turkey on YouTube by sharing films of her day-to-day activities in which her fiance frequently made an appearance.

Recordings of chats with the father, who was apparently furious that daughter was living in Turkey, have reportedly been circulated on social media by a friend of Ali and picked up by activists.

She also accuses her brother of sexual abuse in the tapes.

AFP was unable to independently confirm the voice tapes' veracity.