Some have even become victims of so-called honour killings after being unwittingly filmed in compromising situations.
By Amanj Khalil in Sulaimaniyah
Salma trusted her boyfriend enough to speak freely with him about romance, love and even sex.
But she has paid a high price for her candour. Salma, who asked that her real name be concealed because of the sensitivity of her story, is hiding in a women’s shelter in the northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah, her body battered and bruised.
Her boyfriend recorded their intimate conversations on his phone and passed them onto her family through a friend when she refused to marry him. Salma’s body still bears the scars of her family’s response. The 28-year-old’s hand was fractured during one of the beatings from her brothers, father and uncles.
"They started to beat me without even letting me speak," she said. "They beat me so severely that I fainted several times."
She fled her home in Grmyan, a mostly rural area in Sulaimaniyah province, with the help of a women’s organisation and her young sister. Salma fears that she will be the victim of an "honour killing", if she ever returns.
Mobile phones have become a new threat to young women’s safety in Iraq’s northern region, members of parliament and women’s rights campaigners warn.








