麻豆社

Working with an undercover reporter, 麻豆社 Arabic鈥檚 Nawal Al Maghafi investigates Shia clerics at some of Iraq鈥檚 holiest shrines. She uncovers the grooming and exploitation of vulnerable girls and young women, trapped into prostitution and pimped out by a religious elite. A young widow alleges that a cleric from an important shrine sold her to his friends in a prostitution ring, while secret filming reveals another cleric conducting a so-called 鈥榩leasure marriage鈥� with a girl he believes to be only 13.

Every year millions of Shia Muslims visit revered holy shrines like Karbala and Baghdad鈥檚 Kadhimiya district. In marriage offices near the shrines, some clerics are offering pleasure marriages. In a society like Iraq, where unmarried couples can鈥檛 have sex, a pleasure marriage allows a man to pay a woman for sex for a limited period of time. Under Iraqi civil law they鈥檙e illegal, but some clerics say they鈥檙e allowed under Islamic law and can be a source of income for divorcees or widows.

麻豆社 Arabic鈥檚 undercover reporter visits ten marriage offices in Kadhimiya and finds eight of them agreeing to carry out a pleasure marriage. One cleric recommends it be done as a verbal contract, 鈥渨ith no fingerprints, no evidence. You can just leave her and go.鈥� Another says: 鈥淵ou can marry a woman for half an hour and as soon as it鈥檚 over, straight away you can marry another one.鈥�

Nawal Al Maghafi hears disturbing allegations that some clerics are making money helping men who want sex with very young girls. In Karbala, Iraq鈥檚 most important religious city, the undercover reporter is introduced to a cleric who gives the shocking religious advice that pleasure marriage with a child is halal: 鈥淣ine years old plus, there鈥檚 no problem.鈥� Foreplay and anal sex are permitted, he says, as long as the man avoids taking a young girl鈥檚 virginity: 鈥淚t鈥檚 up to you how you want to do it, she鈥檚 permitted to you. You're allowed to perform from behind. Do what you desire.鈥�

In Kadhimiya, the undercover reporter sets out to see if a cleric will do a pleasure marriage with a very young girl. For $200 the cleric agrees to perform a ceremony over the phone with a girl he鈥檚 told is 13, without meeting her or talking to her family. (In reality the 鈥榞irl鈥� on the phone was a member of the filming team.)

The film goes on to reveal that other clerics actively recruit girls for pleasure marriages and even pimp them out. A cleric from Kadhimiya introduces a young woman to the undercover reporter. A day鈥檚 pleasure marriage will cost him $300 for the girl and $400 for the cleric.

Ghaith Al Tamimi was a high-ranking Shia cleric in Iraq until he criticised rising religious extremism and was forced into exile in London. He condemns the clerics鈥� actions and says: 鈥淭his is morally the lowest of the low. I would never think that prostitution could be made 鈥榟oly鈥�.鈥� Yanar Mohammed, who runs a network of women鈥檚 shelters in Iraq, believes the rise of clerical power in the aftermath of war has been disastrous for women鈥檚 rights. 鈥淭here were laws that protected women. It seems that all the things that we gained in decades of hard work were lost.鈥�