27 arrested in Iraq for blackmailing women

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Army announced on Friday that security forces arrested 27 people over the past month on charges of blackmailing women. 

The Iraqi National Security Agency made the arrests following complaints from citizens, according to the Security Media Cell.

The suspects were arrested in the provinces of Kirkuk, Basra, Anbar, Baghdad, and Dhi Qar. 

According to security forces, the suspects are charged with tricking women into marrying them, photographing them, and then threatening to publish those photos online if the victims did not pay them not to do so. 

According to the Security Media Cell, the arrested men confessed to committing that crime. 

Victims of online blackmailing usually do not report such cases in Iraq out of fear of retribution from the country’s conservative society.