{"id":5270,"date":"2026-05-19T10:56:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T10:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/iraqs-secret-sex-trade-full-documentary-frontline-bbc-news-aired-2019\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T10:56:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T10:56:04","slug":"iraqs-secret-sex-trade-full-documentary-frontline-bbc-news-aired-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/iraqs-secret-sex-trade-full-documentary-frontline-bbc-news-aired-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq\u2019s Secret Sex Trade (full documentary) | FRONTLINE + BBC News (Aired 2019)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe  width=\"580\" height=\"385\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fJEGQQwJmkg?autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<br \/>An on-the-ground investigation into how some clerics in Iraq abused an ancient Islamic marriage practice to exploit women and girls. (Aired 2019)<\/p>\n<p>This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Donate to FRONTLINE now: https:\/\/bit.ly\/47DFzCb<\/p>\n<p>And support your local PBS station here: https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/donate<\/p>\n<p>With undercover reporting, \u201cIraq\u2019s Secret Sex Trade\u201d exposed how some clerics in the country offered to perform what\u2019s known as \u201cmut\u2019ah\u201d or \u201cmunqata\u2019a\u201d \u2014 pleasure or temporary marriages \u2014 with girls as young as 13 in exchange for money.<\/p>\n<p>The short documentary also showed clerics who had essentially acted as pimps, and included the chilling accounts of young women who said they were exploited and forced into repeated \u201cpleasure marriages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen a girl starts, she\u2019s destroyed,\u201d one girl, who was 16 when the documentary aired, told FRONTLINE. \u201cHer life ends the first day she takes this road.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIraq\u2019s Secret Sex Trade\u201d is a FRONTLINE and BBC News Arabic production. The correspondent is Nawal al-Maghafi. The producers are Mais Albayaa, Nawal al-Maghafi and Patrick Wells. The director is Patrick Wells. <\/p>\n<p>Explore additional reporting on \u201cIraq\u2019s Secret Sex Trade\u201d on our website:<br \/>\nhttps:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/frontline\/documentary\/iraqs-secret-sex-trade\/<\/p>\n<p>#Documentary #Iraq <\/p>\n<p>Subscribe on YouTube: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/PBSfrontline<br \/>\nSign up for our newsletter: https:\/\/frontline.org\/newsletter<br \/>\nInstagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/frontlinepbs<br \/>\nFacebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/frontline<br \/>\nBluesky: https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/frontlinepbs.bsky.social<\/p>\n<p>FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and airs nationwide on PBS.<\/p>\n<p>The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.<\/p>\n<p>Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with major support from Ford Foundation. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Trust, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.<\/p>\n<p>CHAPTERS:<\/p>\n<p>00:00 &#8211; Introduction<br \/>\n02:00 &#8211; How Some Clerics Exploit Iraqi Women and Girls<br \/>\n05:30 &#8211; Investigating Iraqi Clerics Who Perform \u201cTemporary Marriages\u201d<br \/>\n10:30 &#8211; What Critics of \u201cTemporary Marriages\u201d Say<br \/>\n16:29 &#8211; What Some Young Women Experience in \u201cTemporary Marriages\u201d<br \/>\n23:51 &#8211; A Senior Shia Cleric\u2019s Response to the Investigation<br \/>\n25:19 &#8211; Credits<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fJEGQQwJmkg\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An on-the-ground investigation into how some clerics in Iraq abused an ancient Islamic marriage practice to exploit women and girls. (Aired 2019) This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Donate to FRONTLINE now: https:\/\/bit.ly\/47DFzCb And support your local PBS station here: https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/donate With undercover reporting, \u201cIraq\u2019s Secret Sex Trade\u201d exposed how some clerics [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4155150628,"featured_media":5271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie","post_format-post-format-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4155150628"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5272,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5270\/revisions\/5272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}