this is bbc world news. the headlines... police in hong kong have fired tear gas at protesters who've defied a ban on wearing face masks that's just come into force. some protesters attacked buildings, including chinese banks. the territory's entire metro network has shut down. britain's prince harry has begun legal action against the publishers of two newspapers for alleged phone hacking. this comes just days after his wife, meghan, announced she was suing another newspaper for publishing one of her letters. text messages released by democrats in congress are increasing the pressure on president trump over requests he made to ukraine for information on his rivaljoe biden. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, the british—iranian woman jailed in iran, hopes to send her five year old daughter home to london, so she can start school in the uk.

at 10pm, rita chakribati will be here with a full round up of the days news. first, bbc arabic‘s nawal al maghafi investigates shia clerics at some of iraq's holiest shrines. she uncovers the exploitation of vulnerable girls and young women, tricked into so called ‘pleasure marriages‘. the film contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting. muslim clerics acting like pens. we expose a secret world of sexual exploitation. widows of war forced to become

prostitutes. men of god giving religious guidance on how to abuse children. in this holy sex trade, even children are for sale. the office of one of the most senior clerics of islam tells us these are crimes that should be punished.

iam in i am in central baghdad, one of the most important pilgrimage sites for shia islam. millions fell to this holy shrine and couples come here get married. walking around across from the main shrine i have come across multiple marriage offices. we have heard that some shieh clerics are performing a controversial religious practise. in this society where sex for unmarried couples is for that end, a pleasure marriage allows a man to pay for a temporary wife but they are illegal and in iraq and they are used to exploit women. i have to be discreet filming this but we are here to investigate allegations that some of the clerics here are our grooming women for high—level prostitution and even acting like pimps.

pleasure marriage or muta'a marriage isa pleasure marriage or muta'a marriage is a practise. many say that it is sanctioned by islamic law and could be good for couples. tell me about muta'a marriage, what are the rules behind it? the man pays for a sexual relationship. the clerics that if

the woman was poor, that man be helping her. but what is the difference between muta'a marriage and prostitution? 15 years of war have had a devastating effect on iraq's women. a million have been widowed and many more are still displaced. clerics

have told us pleasure marriages were a way of helping vulnerable women but we started to hear stories of abuse. we are concealing their real names of the women we spoke to. her husband was killed in an irs bombing and soon after she and her two children lost their home. farfrom far from helping farfrom helping her, she says the cleric exploited her.

the only way to get evidence on camera of what clerics were doing behind closed doors was to go undercover. first a reporter had to get his head and cameras through the security corridor. his task would be difficult and dangerous. we are concealing his identity. when i was arrived i was really scared because i have a secret camera and they find this, no way can i run away.

posing as a potential client he arranged to meet several clerics. posing as a potential client he arranged to meet several clericslj just went to this office and started asking then if you do a temporary pleasure marriage. some of them said yes. this man has an office upset the main shrine. my cover story was i am an iraqi living in london coming to baghdad for a short trip. our reporter pretended he met a girl and wanted to have sex with her. he askedif and wanted to have sex with her. he asked if the cleric would do a pleasure marriage.

the cleric said it was better at not to have a written contract. without a contract he said it is easier to cover your tracks. the cleric was giving advice on how to use a woman for sex and then get rid of her. we heard evidence that

they say this but to see it myself was really shocking. i did not believe he told me have sex with her and thenjust believe he told me have sex with her and then just leave her in the street basically. his services came ata street basically. his services came at a price. we found an expert on islamic law. who could help us interpret our evidence. and iraq he had been a high—ranking cleric but he started speaking out against the clerical establishment. after receiving death threats, he is now living in exile in london. 0h

threats, he is now living in exile in london. oh my god. he told me this cleric was breaking islamic law and his advice could put a woman in danger. if she were caught with a man, she risks being charged with prostitution. despite being illegal and iraq, we found pleasure marriage was widely available. out of ten clerics we

spoke to, eight said they perform them. one of them was this man, and his title it means he claims descent from the prophet muhammad. i reporter told him he met a girl and wa nted reporter told him he met a girl and wanted to have sex. he said pleasure marriages allowed a man to do pretty much whatever he wanted. it is illegal to rent a hotel for it

women and iraq unless you are properly married but he said that was no problem. i wanted to find out about the man who use clerics to do pleasure marriages. la's meeting and very professional in his 40s. speaking anonymously, not his real name, he tells me he regularly does them sometimesjust for an tells me he regularly does them sometimes just for an hour.

to me it sounded like prostitution. but he said he wanted it to be halal. as we talked, he revealed some men where pain clerics for pleasure marriages with children.

we were discovering one of iraq darkest secrets. clerics making money helping men who wanted sex with a very young girls. he was prepared to talk about it. i reporter had told him he met a 13—year—old virgin and asked whether a pleasure marriage would be halal. the general sex lives for bed and according to the cleric but other things he said were permissible.

he said he was a follower of grand ayatolla h, he said he was a follower of grand ayatollah, the most senior shi'ite cleric. he has in the past written that if a child and denying was promised and ate marriage or temporary marriage, sexual touching was religiously permitted. we approached his office to clarify his

religious advice on this matter. in a statement he said times had changed and this had been erased from his current books. to continue our investigation we came to the most important site for shia muslims. this is the biggest pilgrimage site in the world, tens of millions of pilgrims come here every year. we have seen how they helped break the law and even do pleasure marriages with minors. we wanted to see if the religious authorities and this holy city condemned the practise. we

heard about pleasure marriages, do you do then here? but in the streets around the shine, other clerics were getting very different advice. he said he was a member of one of iraq's powerful and well armed militias. i reporter pretended he met a young girl who was still a virgin.

we showed this footage to a man who i’u ns we showed this footage to a man who runs a network of women's shelters across iraq. —— to a woman who runs across iraq. —— to a woman who runs a network of women's shelters. nine years old? they are opening a shop for paedophiles, inviting them from all over the world. the girl is looked at as a piece of merchandise. and using the merchandise in specific ways as allowed by the virginity is kept for that big sale that they will do in the future.

the big sale is marriage. she told me that some families see girls as a financial burden and want to marry them off but parents can only find a husband if there daughter's virginity is guaranteed. pretending he had a real girl and virginity is guaranteed. pretending he had a real girland mind, our reporter asked what would happen if he did take a girl's virginity during a pleasure marriage.

they are speaking of how a man can get away with this crime of raping a young girl. to just leave her and go. what does this mean for the girl involved ? if the males of the family are aware of what happened to her, they will be killing her and then the honour of the male patriarchs at the family is preserved. it is always the girl and the women who are paying the price. i interviewed a girl who is at grave risk of violence from her relatives. she lost her virginity and a pleasure marriage and for her safety, we found an actor telling her story using her exact words.

a few weeks later, the man took her toa a few weeks later, the man took her to a cleric. she was only 14. her pa rents to a cleric. she was only 14. her parents knew nothing about it. when she tried to stop seeing the man, he turned to black male. —— to black mail.

she had been groomed by a sexual predator with the help of a cleric. we wa nted predator with the help of a cleric. we wanted to see how difficult it would be to get a cleric to do a pleasure marriage with a very young girl. it turned out to be easy. he took our reporter to a waiting taxi and he told him he wanted to do a pleasure marriage with a 13—year—old virgin but did not ask to meet the girl in person or talk to her family. he agreed to do the ceremony over the phone. basically another colleague of mine, when he drank the foam, she was on the other end of the phone and was ready to answer.

—— when he rang the phone. i am now thinking this marriage would not be that simple. the only question he asked was was —— what is your name. and then he did the ceremony without any questions.

injusta injust a few in just a few minutes, he injust a few minutes, he had made $200 for a pleasure marriage with a girl he believed to be only 13. for her, the consequences of her teenage pleasure marriage have been disastrous. herfamily are her family are now pressuring herfamily are now pressuring her to get married. she told us something similar had happened to her cousin, with fatal results.

she is in such an impossible situation, which he thought was her teenage love story has ended up ruining her entire future and if it

was not for the cleric convincing her that it was religiously ok, this would have never happened. in the next episode, after months of preparation, we set out to catch a cleric in the act of pimping. hello there. the weather remains unsettled throughout this weekend and we will see further heavy rain at times but many places will be dry and a lot of cloud feeding and across the western

half of the uk, the odd spot of drizzle which will be misty and murky and further east, it will allow it to get quite chilly. scotla nd allow it to get quite chilly. scotland could get down to freezing and in this cool clear area, there will be some fog patches which parts of northeast england could be fairly dense, and then it tends to think they are an early brightness and the east but cloud will be rolling in from the west ahead of this band of rain splashing across northern island and southwest scotland, eventually wells in the forest south of england before the day is done. increasingly windy particularly for the last for scotland and presented the last for scotland and presented the wet weather languorous through the wet weather languorous through the country and something brighter in the west.

tonight at ten... prince harry launches legal action against the owners of the sun and the mirror over alleged phone hacking. the move comes in the same week his wife, meghan, launched a separate legal case against the mail on sunday. royals rarely reach for a lawyer or a writ, and the reason is that it's such a high—risk strategy. they can be cross—examined. they can also have disclosure go to places that they don't really want. we'll be looking at the significance of the royal couple's second move against the press this week. also tonight: the man who made false claims of a vip paedophile ring — a review of the police inquiry into the case is heavily critical of scotland yard. president trump faces growing pressure over his dealings with ukraine, as democrats pursue their attempts to impeach him.