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Killings Database – Year 2007

The Lynching of Du’a Khalil Aswad
Background	Media Reports		Other Reports		The Videos		Photo Credits
Background - April 7^th, 2007 “[…] On 7 April, [17-year-old Du’a] returned home after she had converted to Islam in order to marry a Sunni Muslim who was also a Kurd. She had been told by a Sunni Muslim cleric that her family had forgiven her for her elopement and conversion. Instead she was met in Bashika by a large mob of 2,000 people led by members of her family. What happened next was captured in a mobile phone video. It shows a dark-haired girl dressed in a red track suit top and black underwear with blood streaming from her face. As she tries to rise to her feet she is kicked and hit on the head with a concrete block. Armed and uniformed police stand by watching her being killed over several minutes. Many in the crowd hold up their phone cameras to record the scene. Nobody tries to help her as she is battered to death. […]” - Excerpt of a “Counterpunch” article from May 8^th, 2007.				Stoned to death for the ‘honor’ of men
The World’s Reaction - May 2007 “Women’s rights advocates, social activists and human rights organizations are launching an international campaign to stop the stoning to death of women in Kurdistan. The campaign was initiated after pictures of a brutal stoning of a young girl in Kurdistan were distributed on the Internet last month. Seventeen-year-old Du’a Khalil Aswad of the Yazidi faith was stoned in a Kurdish town on April 7 for liaising with a Muslim Arab man. […] ‘This is the reality of those backward cultures still practiced in those areas and taking lives,’ said Diana Nammi, who represents the International Campaign Against Honor Killings. An honor killing is the phrase used to describe the practice of killing a woman on the grounds that she has committed adultery or had a relationship with a man outside of wedlock. The women are often murdered by members of their community or even by their own families. […]” - Excerpt of a Media Line article from May 23^rd, 2007.				Du’a Khalil Aswad
Media Reports April 28^th, 2008 - Barbaric ‘Honour Killings’ Become Weapon to Subjugate Women in Iraq 1 news article by the Independent December 13^th, 2007 - Freedom Lost 1 news article by the Guardian November 4^th, 2007 - ‘Honour’ Killings Grow as Girl, 17, Stoned to Death 1 news article by the Sunday Times May 24^th, 2007 - Path to Liberty a Deadly Descent 1 news article by Daily Telegraph May 23^rd, 2007 - Teen Stoning Sparks Anti-Honor-Killings Campaign 1 news article by the Media Line May 21^st, 2007 - Fallout from Girl’s Stoning Embodies Iraq’s Discord 1 news article by the Los Angeles Times May 21^st, 2007 - Four Arrested in Iraq ‘Honor Killing’ 1 news article by CNN May 17^th, 2007 - The Girl who was Stoned to Death for Falling in Love 2 news articles by the Daily Mail & Counterpunch May 14^th, 2007 - In the Name of Honor 1 commentary by Asharq Alawsat May 10^th, 2007 - ‘Democracy’ Is Hell 1 commentary by The Nation May 8^th, 2007 - Honor Killings Fuel Tensions in Iraq’s Kurdish North 1 news article by Voice of America May 8^th, 2007 - A Wave of Revenge Killers 1 news article by Counterpunch May 5^th, 2007 - Video: Iraq Yazidi Girl Stoned for Loving Muslim 2 news articles by Middle East Online & The Globe May 3^rd, 2007 - The Moment a Teenage Girl was Stoned to Death for Loving the Wrong Boy 1 news article by the Daily Mail April 26^th, 2007 - A Kurdish Yazidi Teenager was Stoned to Death 1 news article by Kurd Net
Other Reports May 1^st, 2007 - KRG Condemns Murder of Dua Khalil Aswad Statement by the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government April 27^th, 2007 - Iraq: Amnesty International Appalled by Stoning to Death of Yezidi Girl Press Release by Amnesty International
The Videos
1 - The Lynching Video The following is a censored version of the original video, which has been widely distributed over the Internet. This censored version does not show the actual killing of Du’a Khalil. It starts with the first 11 seconds of the video, depicting the large crowd of men. After this short sequence it shows the dead body of Du’a Khalil. The reason for the censoring is the following: within the overall scope of my website, I am trying to expose the murderers and their atrocious crime against Du’a Khalil. At the same time I feel bound to honor the dignity of the victim as much as it is possible. For this reason, I decided not to show the actual murder and also not to provide a download link for the video. The Webmaster
Interjection by “Gottlieb” - original link Postcard from Du’a Khalil Aswad To die for love? What better honor is that? And how, what is your word, ironic, that they murdered me, like they tried to murder the Magdalene, for honor. Where was Jesus when I needed him? And all because I loved a boy outside of my ‘religion’, outside of their ignorance. And now, I am famous, my horror in the name of honor is all over the great wide world. Please don't look at the pictures. Please don’t feed the shame of my people that no one stepped forward to stop my murder. Please don’t blame them. For they know not what they do. Now I am dead, my eyes have been opened.
2 - Demonstration of Iraqi Women against the Murder of Du’a Khalil Aswad in Erbil on April 29^th, 2007
External view: link file format: .avi
Murder Scenes from Bashika
Crowd Scene 1		Crowd Scene 2				Crowd Scene 3
Video & Photo Credits Background 1) Du’a Khalil Aswad - undated photo from the victim. The photo was used to identify Du’a Khalil in a short CNN documentary. The photographer is unknown. CNN gives credit to Samir Mizban/Associated Press. The Lynching Video 1) The video was shot with a cellphone by an unknown participant and henchman of the murder of Du’a Khalil. Present during the murder were apparently male members of Du’a Khalil’s family and other men, possibly, friends to the family. Judging from the video and from the news articles, at least 1,000 men participated in the murder of Du’a Khalil. - April 7^th, 2007 - Bashika, Iraq; The Demonstration Video 2) Iraqi women held a protest over the killing of Du'a Khalil Aswad, 17, from the minority Kurdish Yezidi religious group, who was stoned to death last month apparently as punishment for her relationship with a Muslim teenager. - April 29^th, 2007 - Erbil, Iraq;
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