An Iraqi YouTuber was strangled by her own father, reports say, in an apparent honor killing

• A young Iraqi woman was killed by her father, authorities said.
• She was strangled in her sleep by her father, who was unhappy with her life choices, reports said.

An Iraqi YouTuber was allegedly strangled by her own father in a so-called honor killing last week, the latest such incident in the country.

Tiba Ali, 22, was killed by her father on January 31 in the city of Diwaniyah, with the man then turning himself in at a local police station, according to Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan.

Multiple reports said that the father strangled her while she was asleep, The Associated Press reported.

Ali had returned to Iraqi for a holiday from Istanbul, Turkey, where she had been living in recent years, according to the AP.

A police source told the AFP news agency that the family dispute had been running for years, and that Alia had refused to return in Iraq with her family after moving to Turkey in 2017.

Reports said that her father was unhappy with Ali's decision to live abroad, and was also unhappy with her plans to marry her boyfriend, the AP reported.

As of Monday, Ali had more than 20,000 followers on her YouTube channel, where she shared footage of her and her boyfriend.

Maan said that Ali had met with Iraqi officials and that community police in Diwaniyah went to her family home the day before her death to try to help resolve family issues. The police were due to return the next day, but then learned of her death.

The killing has sparked protests in the country.

Honor killings typically involve a male relative killing a woman for apparently bringing shame on their family.

The country's law allows for mitigated sentences for violence, including murder, when it's done for "honorable motives," according to Human Rights Watch. This can include things like finding a female relative having sex before marriage.

Maan said Ali's death was still being investigated.

According to AFP, friends of Ali have been sharing audio recordings on social media allegedly between Ali and her father, where she accused her brother of sexual assault. AFP was unable to verify the recordings.

Ali's killing has sparked protests in Iraq. Dozens gathered on Sunday, including one with a banner that read: "There is no honor in the crime of killing women."

"Iraq has failed to criminalize domestic violence despite an increase in reporting of incidents of domestic violence by national NGOs," Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.

"Shockingly, the Iraqi penal code still treats leniently so called "honour crimes' comprising violent acts such as assault and even murder," she added.