Honor killings are on the rise in Iraq -- when families kill their women for violations of Islamic law.

London's Independent newspaper reports in the town of Basra alone, at least 15 women a month are murdered for breaching Muslim dress codes.

Beheadings, rapes, beatings and marriages of girls as young as nine are also on the rise.

One desperate father whose daughter was killed for falling in love with someone outside her tribe said, "I couldn't protect her because I got threats from my brother and the whole tribe.

"They insisted they were gong to kill us all. I want those who committed this act to be punished but so far they have not. They are free."

Source: Independent