Search ongoing after Iraqi mother throws children into Tigris River

The motive remains unclear but the incident has sparked outrage in Iraq

The Tigris river flows through Baghdad. Reuters

The search for one of two young children thrown into the Tigris River by their mother continued for a fourth day on Tuesday, family members confirmed.

A woman was arrested on Friday after security camera footage from the Imams Bridge in northern Baghdad captured her walking with her young children – a boy aged two-and-a-half and a one-and-a-half-year-old girl – before tossing them into the river and walking calmly away.

The body of the young girl has since been recovered, Interior Ministry spokesman Brig Gen Khalid Al Muhana said.

The police are still questioning the woman and the motive is unknown.

The children’s grandfather, Ali Al Daraji, said that the parents had divorced last month and a court ruled their father would take custody. However, he said that the family had allowed the mother to see her children whenever she asked.

The last time, he said, was on Friday afternoon.

“At around 9pm, their uncle went to pick them up, but they told him they were out with their mother and siblings,” he said. “He went again an hour later and told him the same and the third time they told him that the mother just disappeared.”

Shortly after midnight, Mr Al Daraji said, the children’s father got a phone call from the police informing him that his ex-wife had thrown the kids into the river and that she was in their custody.

The family, volunteers and the authorities have been searching for the bodies of the children since then.

While there is no indication of what prompted the woman’s apparent actions, it has sparked a debate online around women’s rights, custody laws and domestic violence protections.

Domestic violence has been on the rise in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and traditional rulings prevail amid the weakness of successive administrations to address the matter.

The Interior Ministry said they believe there has been a 20 to 30 per cent increase in domestic violence this year compared to the same period last year.

Alarmed by the recent surge in domestic violence, the Iraqi Cabinet approved in August an anti-domestic violence bill. The draft law still needs the final endorsement from parliament.