Christian women in Basra are being threatened and intimidated into wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf, or hijab.

The Times has reported on the case of Zeena, 21, who on her first day at Basra University was met by a man who told her, along with three other Christian girls, to cover their heads with the hijab.

She told The Times, "We didn't listen to him, and thought he might just be some extremist student representing only himself."

The following day they returned to the university as before, without their headscarves, when they were stopped by a man wearing the black clothes worn by the Shia militia.

According to Zeena, "He said, 'We asked you yesterday to wear a hijab, so why are you and your friends not covering your hair?'. He was talking very aggressively and I was scared." They responded that as Christians they were not required by their faith to wear headscarves.

But, "He said: 'Outside this university you are Christian and can do what you want; inside you are not. Next time I want to see you wearing a hijab or I swear to God the three of you will be killed immediately'," Zeena told The Times.

Now all the girls wear headscarves at all times. According to the Basra police Chief, Major General Abdul-Jalil Khalaf, 40 women have been killed by the militias in the last five months. Some of them have been killed together with their children. One woman without a veil was killed along with her six and 11-year-old children.

Militants have become increasingly powerful since the handover of Basra to Iraqi security forces by the British.

Graffiti adorns the city warning women not to go outside without following Islamic dress codes. According to the newspaper, one such message said, "Whoever disobeys will be punished. God is our witness that we have conveyed this message."

In another example an advert for a mobile phone had a woman's unveiled head blotted out and had the words "No, no, to unveiled women" graffitied below.