'Marriage for Pleasure': In Iraq, Priests Sell Vulnerable Women and Children

Is Prostitution Legal?

In its investigation, the BBC revealed the sexual exploitation of children and young women by religious figures. Clergy use vulnerable girls for 'pleasure marriage' (mut'a), offering them to men for sex.

A girl named Rusul told her story. One morning she woke up to find her husband gone. And this was not her second, third or even fourth husband. Her lifestyle changed after an unexpected encounter at work.

One day a man who liked her began visiting her at work. For the first time since her divorce, Rusul began to dream of marriage, so that someone would take care of her. A few weeks after meeting, the man drove her to Baghdad and took her to a religious marriage agency. After a brief wedding ceremony, the priest asked her whether she agreed to marry the man, and gave her 250 dollars as a dowry.

After the wedding, the first few days seemed like a fairy tale to the girl. However, then her husband disappeared. Rusul went to that priest and realised he had been expecting her. It turned out that in the marriage contract (which she had not read), in brackets was the word 'mut'a', which means 'marriage for pleasure'. 

For men, mut'a is a way to enjoy sex with a girl of any age without burdening themselves with the bonds of a real marriage; for priests, it is a way to earn their commission for conducting such a ceremony; and for girls, it is either a way to make money (as for divorcees) or ruin.

In the offices of many priests there are often several girls they offer for marriage, as well as a photo album. Age is irrelevant for mut'a marriage. Thus, many men can use children as young as 9 for sex. 

For example, a priest offered a 9-year-old girl for such a marriage to a BBC journalist working undercover. He said that it was not necessary to deprive her of virginity, since other ways of satisfaction could be used.

Rusul herself did not say how much she specifically earns from this. She said she can no longer even count how many men have become her 'husband for an hour or several weeks'.

Priests often provide girls with contraceptives so that they can continue to cooperate with them in this illegal way.

Rusul
victim of the 'pleasure marriage' system

This is very widespread. There are many girls like me. As soon as a girl starts doing this, her life collapses.

Permanent marriages in Iraq are permitted from the age of 18, but many judges do not follow this law and may sign a marriage contract even if the girl is 13. Most often such marriages end in divorce, after which the woman has nowhere to go. Therefore, she may turn to the mut'a marriage system.

Rusul tries to help her sister Runa and protect her from a similar fate. The girl is determined to do everything possible to save her loved one. She herself understands that her life is unlikely to ever get better. Not a single man in all of Iraq will want to enter into a real marriage with her simply because she is not a virgin.