Al Jazeera World

Note: This is part one of a two-part documentary.

Sudan has a troubled history and has been in almost constant turmoil since the 1950s.

Regime change, coups, street protests, famine, war, political division - and in April 2019, the toppling of President Omar al-Bashir.

The history of modern Sudan is punctuated by several coups, including in 1989, the seizing of power by al-Bashir, whose regime would last for three decades.

In the background was Hassan al-Turabi, the power behind the leadership, and the man many call the architect of modern Sudan.

"Al-Turabi was a successful politician, not in the sense of political achievements on the ground but in his capacity for mass mobilisation, creating an organisational structure and ensuring continuity," says Dr Al Nour Ahmed, a researcher, academic and Sudanese opposition member.

"No politician had ever created a cohesive organisational body in Sudan as al-Turabi did."

Al-Turabi was enigmatic, a learned Islamic scholar, the founder of Sudan's religious political party and an arch-politician. His followers revered him as a scholar, diplomat, spiritual leader and strategic thinker, with an uncanny knack of backing winners.

"Thanks to his quite diverse experience, he combined traditional Islamic culture with modern European thinking," says political analyst Dr Mohamed Mokhtar al-Shanqity.

But to his many enemies, he was Machiavellian, ruthlessly ambitious and sought power on his own terms.

"Al-Turabi was known for his intellectual and political flexibility. Political shrewdness is one of his greatest strengths and at the same time one of his major weaknesses," al-Shanqity says.

As al-Bashir's attorney-general, al-Turabi was at the heart of power and also at the centre of Sudan's religious ideologues who controlled the executive, the military and the judiciary.

When al-Turabi set up a General Assembly to discuss a worldwide Islamic revolution, he attracted people like Osama bin Laden who, as a then-Saudi entrepreneur, set up businesses in Sudan. However, relations with the West deteriorated and Sudan's exiled community, antagonistic to al-Bashir's authoritarian rule, grew.

In the 1990s, al-Turabi came under increasing pressure. Soon a rift developed with al-Bashir who dismissed al-Turabi in 1999. He spent the rest of his career in opposition, and spent many years in prison. His loyal following gave him continued support until his death in 2016.

Throughout al-Bashir's regime, al-Turabi was a key background figure. His political sway and his avowed mission to establish a religious state in Sudan, both formed and later challenged al-Bashir - even from his prison cell - and hold weight even in events unfolding today.

In the current power struggle enveloping the country, al-Turabi's influence is still felt - not least among some of the protesters vying with the army for civilian rule in the post al-Bashir era.

In this two-part series, we trace the rise and fall of Hassan al-Turabi, and explore the vast influence he had over five decades of Sudanese politics.

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"The Middle East is both the most polarised region in the world - meaning you have all these divisions, all these axes - but also the most integrated, which means that what happens in Syria matters to Saudi Arabia, matters to Iran, matters to Israel," says Middle East analyst and former Obama-administration adviser, Robert Malley. "And so you cannot have an uprising that simply lives on, on its own."

Formerly a White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf Region, Malley now heads leading think-tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG).

Under Barack Obama, Malley was part of the team that crafted the Iran nuclear deal - the one Donald Trump's White House then withdrew from in 2018, calling it "defective".

"His [Trump's] criticisms are either deliberately dishonest, or he hasn't read the deal or he doesn't know what's in it," Malley tells Al Jazeera.

He says Trump decided to withdraw from the deal to get a better deal and to curb Iran's behaviour in the region. But "what have we seen a year later? Iran is now itself moving away from the deal, so its nuclear activities are worse than they were under the deal."

"It could well lead to a war that I am profoundly convinced the president doesn't want," he says. "But I think he [Trump] is on a collision course with himself because his policies - whether he is aware of it or not - are leading towards the possibility of military confrontation that his instincts oppose."

Under the Obama administration, the US also got involved in Saudi's war in Yemen. In April, Malley wrote in the Atlantic: "For an American who had a hand in shaping US Mideast policy during the Barack Obama years, coming to Yemen has the unpleasant feel of visiting the scene of a tragedy one helped co-write."

He tells Al Jazeera that despite the US having "huge reservations", they agreed to get involved in the Yemen conflict in 2015 to support an ally, Saudi Arabia. "The feeling was we can't afford another rupture with Saudi Arabia - which could be a major one - after coming in the wake of the Iran negotiations. So the president [Obama] had this view of, we can help Saudi Arabia defend its security, defend its borders, defend its territorial integrity while trying not to get too involved in the war with the Houthis," he says.

"But in a way that was getting half pregnant. Because once you support Saudi Arabia - once you support the Saudi-led coalition - support is fungible. And the US became complicit in what today the United Nations says is the worst humanitarian crisis we face. So this is a case of tragedy in which US fingerprints are very present."

On US interests elsewhere in the region, Malley feels "the world is spending too much time talking about this 'deal of the century'" that Trump has proposed to solve the Israel-Palestinian crisis.

"We know that if and when this is put on the table, the Palestinians will say no," he says."Because even if it's slightly better than people expect, it's going to be far less than what President Clinton proposed to the Palestinians in 2000, less than what was on offer during the George W Bush presidency, less than what was on offer for the Palestinians during the Barack Obama presidency, so there is no way they are going to say yes.

"The gaps between the parties on the central issues of identity, of territory, of refugees, of security, of settlements, all those gaps are very wide. And it will take ... a very strong third party to try to get the parties where they need to go," Malley says.

Although he believes the two-state solution is "still the best possible outcome" for the region, he concedes that it's becoming harder to see it as the most realistic option.

"It's pretty easy today to say that the two-state solution is more and more a thing of the past," he says. "It's not very easy to say what's a thing of the present or the future."

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"The Middle East is both the most polarised region in the world - meaning you have all these divisions, all these axes - but also the most integrated, which means that what happens in Syria matters to Saudi Arabia, matters to Iran, matters to Israel," says Middle East analyst and former Obama-administration adviser, Robert Malley. "And so you cannot have an uprising that simply lives on, on its own."

Formerly a White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf Region, Malley now heads leading think-tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG).

Under Barack Obama, Malley was part of the team that crafted the Iran nuclear deal - the one Donald Trump's White House then withdrew from in 2018, calling it "defective".

"His [Trump's] criticisms are either deliberately dishonest, or he hasn't read the deal or he doesn't know what's in it," Malley tells Al Jazeera.

He says Trump decided to withdraw from the deal to get a better deal and to curb Iran's behaviour in the region. But "what have we seen a year later? Iran is now itself moving away from the deal, so its nuclear activities are worse than they were under the deal."

"It could well lead to a war that I am profoundly convinced the president doesn't want," he says. "But I think he [Trump] is on a collision course with himself because his policies - whether he is aware of it or not - are leading towards the possibility of military confrontation that his instincts oppose."

Under the Obama administration, the US also got involved in Saudi's war in Yemen. In April, Malley wrote in the Atlantic: "For an American who had a hand in shaping US Mideast policy during the Barack Obama years, coming to Yemen has the unpleasant feel of visiting the scene of a tragedy one helped co-write."

He tells Al Jazeera that despite the US having "huge reservations", they agreed to get involved in the Yemen conflict in 2015 to support an ally, Saudi Arabia. "The feeling was we can't afford another rupture with Saudi Arabia - which could be a major one - after coming in the wake of the Iran negotiations. So the president [Obama] had this view of, we can help Saudi Arabia defend its security, defend its borders, defend its territorial integrity while trying not to get too involved in the war with the Houthis," he says.

"But in a way that was getting half pregnant. Because once you support Saudi Arabia - once you support the Saudi-led coalition - support is fungible. And the US became complicit in what today the United Nations says is the worst humanitarian crisis we face. So this is a case of tragedy in which US fingerprints are very present."

On US interests elsewhere in the region, Malley feels "the world is spending too much time talking about this 'deal of the century'" that Trump has proposed to solve the Israel-Palestinian crisis.

"We know that if and when this is put on the table, the Palestinians will say no," he says."Because even if it's slightly better than people expect, it's going to be far less than what President Clinton proposed to the Palestinians in 2000, less than what was on offer during the George W Bush presidency, less than what was on offer for the Palestinians during the Barack Obama presidency, so there is no way they are going to say yes.

"The gaps between the parties on the central issues of identity, of territory, of refugees, of security, of settlements, all those gaps are very wide. And it will take ... a very strong third party to try to get the parties where they need to go," Malley says.

Although he believes the two-state solution is "still the best possible outcome" for the region, he concedes that it's becoming harder to see it as the most realistic option.

"It's pretty easy today to say that the two-state solution is more and more a thing of the past," he says. "It's not very easy to say what's a thing of the present or the future."

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Did the Bahraini government collude with al-Qaeda members to target Shia opposition figures during the 2011 unrest?

In February 2011, following unrest in Tunisia and Egypt in the early days of the so-called Arab Spring, opposition demonstrators took to the streets of the Bahraini capital, Manama.

The protests quickly gathered momentum, with demonstrators demanding greater democracy and an end to discrimination against the majority Shia Muslim community by the Sunni regime.

But in March, the protests were quelled. The king declared a state of emergency and brought in the Peninsula Shield Force, the military wing of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The government called the unarmed protesters and activists "terrorists". Civilian demonstrators were teargassed, beaten and shot.

Now, allegations have surfaced suggesting that the Bahraini government made attempts to coerce members of al-Qaeda in Bahrain to target key figures in the Shia Muslim community during the unrest.

In leaked secret video recordings, former members of al-Qaeda say that the Bahraini government and intelligence officials cracked down on and tried to assassinate key Shia opposition figures.

The recordings say that Bahraini intelligence officers recruited al-Qaeda members to form a cell to murder Bahraini opposition activists, on orders from the king.

In one recording, former al-Qaeda member Mohammad Saleh says: "A state security officer and another officer ... paid me a visit. They said they'd come on behalf of His Majesty the King of Bahrain at a time when the country was having a difficult time. He said that we, as fighters and members of al-Qaeda could help quell the Shia."

In a different recording made at the same time, Hisham Hilal al-Balushi - who was later a known leader of a Sunni armed group in Iran, before being killed in 2015 - talks about being detained by Bahraini security services and then recruited to infiltrate another group in Iran.

In this film, Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Tamer Almisshal examines the video testimonies and speaks to former intelligence officers, diplomats, human rights activists and security experts about the allegations.

The Bahraini government has strenuously denied the allegations made in this film. The foreign minister called them "lies and fallacies against the state of Bahrain".

The minister of information said there were "attempts made by Al Jazeera channel to contact him and other officials, through unidentified telephone numbers, to record their conversations without their knowledge or official consent and to provoke them by using despicable methods".

Al Jazeera also wrote to the office of the royal family, the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask them to respond to the allegations but has not yet received any replies.

After an Arabic version of the film aired on Al Jazeera Arabic, Mohammad Saleh and Jamal al-Balushi (the brother of now-deceased Hilal) appeared on Bahraini television, saying that although they did make the recordings in 2011, what they said was false.

Mohammad Saleh said "they all agreed to make the recordings and to include several false allegations in order to give them weight that would help international human rights groups build pressure on Bahrain's government and security agencies", the state Bahrain News Agency reported.

According to John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer, Bahrain "thought they could divide their own opponents by having their opponents attack each other".

"The Bahraini government believed it could pit Sunni fundamentalists against the Shia population and keep both sides divided that way, and that is not what happened," he tells Al Jazeera. "What happened was it further angered the Shia population and at the same time encouraged fundamentalism among the Sunni."

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Did the Bahraini government collude with al-Qaeda members to target Shia opposition figures during the 2011 unrest?

In February 2011, following unrest in Tunisia and Egypt in the early days of the so-called Arab Spring, opposition demonstrators took to the streets of the Bahraini capital, Manama.

The protests quickly gathered momentum, with demonstrators demanding greater democracy and an end to discrimination against the majority Shia Muslim community by the Sunni regime.

But in March, the protests were quelled. The king declared a state of emergency and brought in the Peninsula Shield Force, the military wing of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The government called the unarmed protesters and activists "terrorists". Civilian demonstrators were teargassed, beaten and shot.

Now, allegations have surfaced suggesting that the Bahraini government made attempts to coerce members of al-Qaeda in Bahrain to target key figures in the Shia Muslim community during the unrest.

In leaked secret video recordings, former members of al-Qaeda say that the Bahraini government and intelligence officials cracked down on and tried to assassinate key Shia opposition figures.

The recordings say that Bahraini intelligence officers recruited al-Qaeda members to form a cell to murder Bahraini opposition activists, on orders from the king.

In one recording, former al-Qaeda member Mohammad Saleh says: "A state security officer and another officer ... paid me a visit. They said they'd come on behalf of His Majesty the King of Bahrain at a time when the country was having a difficult time. He said that we, as fighters and members of al-Qaeda could help quell the Shia."

In a different recording made at the same time, Hisham Hilal al-Balushi - who was later a known leader of a Sunni armed group in Iran, before being killed in 2015 - talks about being detained by Bahraini security services and then recruited to infiltrate another group in Iran.

In this film, Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Tamer Almisshal examines the video testimonies and speaks to former intelligence officers, diplomats, human rights activists and security experts about the allegations.

The Bahraini government has strenuously denied the allegations made in this film. The foreign minister called them "lies and fallacies against the state of Bahrain".

The minister of information said there were "attempts made by Al Jazeera channel to contact him and other officials, through unidentified telephone numbers, to record their conversations without their knowledge or official consent and to provoke them by using despicable methods".

Al Jazeera also wrote to the office of the royal family, the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask them to respond to the allegations but has not yet received any replies.

After an Arabic version of the film aired on Al Jazeera Arabic, Mohammad Saleh and Jamal al-Balushi (the brother of now-deceased Hilal) appeared on Bahraini television, saying that although they did make the recordings in 2011, what they said was false.

Mohammad Saleh said "they all agreed to make the recordings and to include several false allegations in order to give them weight that would help international human rights groups build pressure on Bahrain's government and security agencies", the state Bahrain News Agency reported.

According to John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer, Bahrain "thought they could divide their own opponents by having their opponents attack each other".

"The Bahraini government believed it could pit Sunni fundamentalists against the Shia population and keep both sides divided that way, and that is not what happened," he tells Al Jazeera. "What happened was it further angered the Shia population and at the same time encouraged fundamentalism among the Sunni."

More from Al Jazeera World on:

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Visit our website - http://www.aljazeera.com/aljazeeraworld

Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe

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This year, large parts of India have seen the worst drought in decades.

The monsoon, which usually provides some relief, was weeks late and when it finally arrived, it was once again deficient, with less rainfall than expected.

Despite India's economic growth in recent years, it remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. And that inequality can be seen in people's access to life's most basic necessity: water.

A government report found that 600 million Indians - nearly half the population - are facing acute water shortages.

While swimming pools in luxury hotels remain full, three quarters of the population do not have drinking water in their homes.

The effects of the drought are seen most clearly in rural India. About 300,000 Indian farmers have killed themselves in the past 25 years, and many more have deserted their crops to move to cities in search of work, leaving behind the elderly.

In the state of Maharashtra is one of the worst-affected regions.

Villagers there sometimes wait for days before government tankers carrying water trucks, where they desperately need them. But the trucks only provide about 20 litres per person a day, which people ration for everything including drinking, cooking, bathing and house work.

"Life is very hard because of the water situation," says Sitabai Gaikwad, a school teacher in Ahir Wadgaon village. "We have water when the tanker comes. People who can't manage to put their pipes in the tanker don't have water that day."

"There are older people who don't manage to get water. Everyone's worried about themselves because of the water situation," she says.

In Maharashtra, more than 6,000 tankers supply water to 15,000 villages every day - 1,000 of these are government tankers which provide water for free.

The others are private operators who sell water to people and businesses. Villagers say the cost of buying water from them has escalated since the drought.

"People buy water according to their finances," says Gaikwad. "Some buy it, but that is difficult because it costs us 900 rupees ($13) for a month."

"When we don't have money to feed ourselves, when we don't have food and water, how can we pay that much for water?" she asks.

Although the government tankers are meant to deliver water every day, villagers complain that this doesn't always happen. GPS tracking devices have been installed on all government trucks to monitor and ensure the water arrives.

Meanwhile, across Maharashtra, many farmers are leaving their land and villages because of the lack of water, which in these farming communities, often means a lack of work.

Panduram More, a labourer, left his 40,000 square metre cotton farm to move to the city of Aurangabad.

"There is no work, so I had to migrate here and live in this small room," he says. "There is no rainfall, so the land is of no use. We can't grow anything."

Talk to Al Jazeera In The Field, went to India's Maharashtra state to look at the effect the drought is having on the lives of ordinary people.

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This year, large parts of India have seen the worst drought in decades.

The monsoon, which usually provides some relief, was weeks late and when it finally arrived, it was once again deficient, with less rainfall than expected.

Despite India's economic growth in recent years, it remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. And that inequality can be seen in people's access to life's most basic necessity: water.

A government report found that 600 million Indians - nearly half the population - are facing acute water shortages.

While swimming pools in luxury hotels remain full, three quarters of the population do not have drinking water in their homes.

The effects of the drought are seen most clearly in rural India. About 300,000 Indian farmers have killed themselves in the past 25 years, and many more have deserted their crops to move to cities in search of work, leaving behind the elderly.

In the state of Maharashtra is one of the worst-affected regions.

Villagers there sometimes wait for days before government tankers carrying water trucks, where they desperately need them. But the trucks only provide about 20 litres per person a day, which people ration for everything including drinking, cooking, bathing and house work.

"Life is very hard because of the water situation," says Sitabai Gaikwad, a school teacher in Ahir Wadgaon village. "We have water when the tanker comes. People who can't manage to put their pipes in the tanker don't have water that day."

"There are older people who don't manage to get water. Everyone's worried about themselves because of the water situation," she says.

In Maharashtra, more than 6,000 tankers supply water to 15,000 villages every day - 1,000 of these are government tankers which provide water for free.

The others are private operators who sell water to people and businesses. Villagers say the cost of buying water from them has escalated since the drought.

"People buy water according to their finances," says Gaikwad. "Some buy it, but that is difficult because it costs us 900 rupees ($13) for a month."

"When we don't have money to feed ourselves, when we don't have food and water, how can we pay that much for water?" she asks.

Although the government tankers are meant to deliver water every day, villagers complain that this doesn't always happen. GPS tracking devices have been installed on all government trucks to monitor and ensure the water arrives.

Meanwhile, across Maharashtra, many farmers are leaving their land and villages because of the lack of water, which in these farming communities, often means a lack of work.

Panduram More, a labourer, left his 40,000 square metre cotton farm to move to the city of Aurangabad.

"There is no work, so I had to migrate here and live in this small room," he says. "There is no rainfall, so the land is of no use. We can't grow anything."

Talk to Al Jazeera In The Field, went to India's Maharashtra state to look at the effect the drought is having on the lives of ordinary people.

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For generations, the Kalbelia tribe of Rajasthan in northwest India moved constantly from one place to another - the men catching snakes and trading venom, the women begging for charity.

But in 1972, the Indian government introduced the Wildlife Act, forbidding snake possession and hunting, forcing a fundamental tribal re-think.

With a key part of their way of life - their centuries-old practice of snake charming - effectively banned, the Kalbelia had to find new ways of making a living. Some became subsistence farmers, while others have reinvented themselves as public performers.

Festivals and culture are an important part of local life in Rajasthan - and of its vital tourist industry.

Kalbelian dance, with its distinctive twirling movements that resemble those of the snake, is both source of income and acclaim, within and outside India.

I was born into a community that preferred not to have girl children ... Any extra girl child was killed soon after birth. Now that our girls learn Kalbelian dance, parents are happier with a female child.

Gulabo, Kalbelia dancer

"This song and dance, this art, it is our tradition," says one Kalbelia man. "During the royalty era, we were invited to palaces; kings and emperors called on us to perform for their guests."

The Kalbelia have brought considerable prestige to Rajasthan. They have now become famous – regionally, nationally and internationally - and in 2010 gained a place on UNESCO's Intangible Heritage list.

Dance is a key part of Kalbelian cultural identity and has also had a marked social impact on the lives of women and girls.

"I was born into a community that preferred not to have girl children ... Any extra girl child was killed soon after birth." says Gulabo, a Kalbelia dancer who was buried alive the day she was born, until her mother saved her.

"Now that our girls learn Kalbelian dance, parents are happier with a female child because girls can dance and that's a very good thing for us," she says.

Gulabo now teaches Kalbelian dance and has a reputation as an international performer.

Kalbelian songs and dances are part of an oral tradition, handed down from one generation to another. There are no real organised training systems, schools, manuscripts or texts to help teach the art. Many songs are taken from stories based on folklore and mythology - and singers also have a reputation for improvising during performances.

"We don't practice or attend music lessons," says Mohini Devi, singer in a Kalbelia dance band. "Songs are made spontaneously, while sitting at home."

In this film, we meet Rajasthan's Kalbelian dancers and musicians and hear the striking story of a community adapting from a nomadic way of life to meet the challenges of 21st Century India.

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- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

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- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

For generations, the Kalbelia tribe of Rajasthan in northwest India moved constantly from one place to another - the men catching snakes and trading venom, the women begging for charity.

But in 1972, the Indian government introduced the Wildlife Act, forbidding snake possession and hunting, forcing a fundamental tribal re-think.

With a key part of their way of life - their centuries-old practice of snake charming - effectively banned, the Kalbelia had to find new ways of making a living. Some became subsistence farmers, while others have reinvented themselves as public performers.

Festivals and culture are an important part of local life in Rajasthan - and of its vital tourist industry.

Kalbelian dance, with its distinctive twirling movements that resemble those of the snake, is both source of income and acclaim, within and outside India.

I was born into a community that preferred not to have girl children ... Any extra girl child was killed soon after birth. Now that our girls learn Kalbelian dance, parents are happier with a female child.

Gulabo, Kalbelia dancer

"This song and dance, this art, it is our tradition," says one Kalbelia man. "During the royalty era, we were invited to palaces; kings and emperors called on us to perform for their guests."

The Kalbelia have brought considerable prestige to Rajasthan. They have now become famous – regionally, nationally and internationally - and in 2010 gained a place on UNESCO's Intangible Heritage list.

Dance is a key part of Kalbelian cultural identity and has also had a marked social impact on the lives of women and girls.

"I was born into a community that preferred not to have girl children ... Any extra girl child was killed soon after birth." says Gulabo, a Kalbelia dancer who was buried alive the day she was born, until her mother saved her.

"Now that our girls learn Kalbelian dance, parents are happier with a female child because girls can dance and that's a very good thing for us," she says.

Gulabo now teaches Kalbelian dance and has a reputation as an international performer.

Kalbelian songs and dances are part of an oral tradition, handed down from one generation to another. There are no real organised training systems, schools, manuscripts or texts to help teach the art. Many songs are taken from stories based on folklore and mythology - and singers also have a reputation for improvising during performances.

"We don't practice or attend music lessons," says Mohini Devi, singer in a Kalbelia dance band. "Songs are made spontaneously, while sitting at home."

In this film, we meet Rajasthan's Kalbelian dancers and musicians and hear the striking story of a community adapting from a nomadic way of life to meet the challenges of 21st Century India.

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- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Iraq is emerging from more than a decade of intermittent conflict. People are rebuilding their cities and institutions. At the same time, they are also pursuing reconciliation and trying to reconstruct their national identity.

Women hope they will be given more of an expanded role in the political sphere and that they will be given greater rights. But it has been an uphill battle.

Iraq's penal code allows husbands to discipline their wives, and there is currently no law criminalising domestic violence. For almost a decade, women's rights groups have been pushing parliament to pass a law that would change that - but it has always stalled.

"The law in Iraq doesn't give women their rights," says Lena, a domestic violence survivor whose abuse left her with physical and psychological ailments.

We don't have laws in our society to prevent men from hurting women, and to protect women, and to put red lines for men not to cross.

Lena, domestic violence survivor

"I tried so many times to leave [my ex-husband] ... At the end of the day, I felt that I was going to die," she says.

But the abuse was just the beginning of her ordeal. After she left her husband and filed a police report, he turned the tables against Lena and her family, accusing them of kidnapping him.

At the end of the day, Lena was found guilty and spent 16 months in prison.

Lena blames the wide-reaching corruption in the judicial system, "from the lowest clerk to the highest judge."

She says Iraqi women who are unemployed or not well educated, especially those who have children, are forced to "bear everything".

"We don't have laws in our society to prevent men from hurting women, and to protect women, and to put red lines for men not to cross," she says.

There are no updated national figures for domestic violence in Iraq; the most recent data available, from 2012, estimated that one in five women were victims.

Civil society groups say, based on the growing number of women seeking assistance, they believe the figure is much higher today.

"The life, the traditions, is so hard on the woman, on the girl," says Hanna Edwar, a longtime activist and founder of a non-profit social services group called al-Ammal.

She calls domestic violence "a national crisis" and attributes the increase to a number of factors, including political instability, poverty, conflict, outdated traditions and lack of rule of law. She says corruption also makes it difficult for victims and survivors to get justice.

Edwar has taken the lead on the effort to raise awareness about domestic violence and is pushing to pass the law offering victims greater protection.

"This year we are really very optimistic about it [passing]," she says. "Because it's not only our demand as civil society. It is now the demands of the government [as well]."

In the meantime, many women like Lena are still awaiting recognition of the crimes committed against them.

"When I talk about what happened to me, people dismiss it as just a story ... I have not been able to convince anyone in our government to change our laws to protect women," Lena says. "I have never received justice."

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