This story contains details of sexual violence which some readers may find upsetting "Get out of the car!" screams a woman, accusing a driver of exposing himself and making obscene comments as she walked by. She is filming the scene in a busy Baghdad street on her phone, and the camera captures him resisting her attempts to open the door as she confronts him. The video can be seen, with others like it, on the Instagram page of Iraqi women's rights activist Sarah Jassim.
She posts them on behalf of women who complain about sexual abuse and harassment by Iraqi men and boys. "Your camera is your weapon," she tells the BBC. "It's a way to document evidence in case a woman decides to sue her harasser, or at least it is a means to shame him." One of the videos she posted led to the arrest of the alleged perpetrator, a policeman accused of harassing schoolgirls, she says.
Jassim says posting the videos is risky both for herself and for the women concerned. We have spoken to numerous victims of sexual abuse in Iraq who say that society often blames the victim. "I have received death threats, and I have also been threatened with acid attacks," Jassim says.
"I have been accused of inciting public indecency, because I encourage women to speak in a society that expects us to be silent." She now barely leaves home, for her own safety, and instead spends hours playing with her dog. There is a need for stricter laws, she argues, including laws that explicitly criminalise "harassment" and "gender-based violence" - terms that are currently absent from the penal code. "Recognising the problem is the best way to address it," she says.
"We need protection, abusers have to be deterred." Many Iraqi women have told the BBC they felt failed by the justice and police systems. Pursuing legal action against a harasser or a rapist is a long path in Iraq, with complicated procedures, and uncertain results, according to a number of activists and lawyers we have spoken to. Violence against women and girls in Iraq is "widespread and under-reported," according to a report in May by a UN committee on discrimination against women, which called for stronger legislation.
Among dozens of recommendations, it urged the authorities to repeal "discriminatory" laws that exonerate rapists if they marry their victims, and allow reduced sentences for murder in cases where a perpetrator was carrying out a so-called "honour killing". Amal - not her real name - has been battling in court for about five years. She accuses her ex-husband of repeatedly raping their daughter - who was under 18 at the time - at gunpoint.
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