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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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April 28th,
2008 - Barbaric ‘Honour Killings’ Become Weapon to Subjugate Women in Iraq |
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Barbaric ‘Honour
Killings’ Become the Weapon to Subjugate Women in Iraq Murder of a girl who became infatuated with a British soldier
highlights a disturbing new trend By Terri Judd The Independent April 28, 2008 At first glance Shawbo Ali
Rauf appears to be slumbering on the grass, her pale brown curls framing her
face, her summer skirt spread about her. But the awkward position of her
limbs and the splattered blood reveal the true horror of the scene. The 19-year-old Iraqi was,
according to her father, murdered by her own in-laws, who took her to a
picnic area in Dokan and shot her seven times. Her crime was to have an
unknown number on her mobile phone. Her "honour killing" is just
one in a grotesque series emerging from Iraq, where activists speak of a
"genocide" against women in the name of religion. In the latest such case, it
was reported yesterday that a 17-year-old girl, Rand Abdel-Qader, was stabbed
to death last month by her father for becoming infatuated with a British
soldier serving in southern Iraq. In Basra alone, police
acknowledge that 15 women a month are murdered for breaching Islamic dress
codes. Campaigners insist it is a conservative figure. Violence against women is
rampant, rising every day with the power of the militias. Beheadings, rapes,
beatings, suicides through self-immolation, genital mutilation, trafficking
and child abuse masquerading as marriage of girls as young as nine are all on
the increase. Du'a Khalil Aswad, 17, from
Nineveh, was executed by stoning in front of mob of 2,000 men for falling in
love with a boy outside her Yazidi tribe. Mobile phone images of her broken
body transmitted on the internet led to sectarian violence, international
outrage and calls for reform. Her father, Khalil Aswad, speaking one year
after her death in April last year, has revealed that none of those
responsible had been prosecuted and his family remained "outcasts"
in their own tribe. "My daughter did
nothing wrong," he said. "She fell in love with a Muslim and there
is nothing wrong with that. I couldn't protect her because I got threats from
my brother, the whole tribe. They insisted they were gong to kill us all, not
only Du'a, if she was not killed. She was mutilated, her body dumped like
rubbish. "I want those who
committed this act to be punished but so far they have not, they are free.
Honour killing is murder. This is a barbaric act." Despite the outrage, recent
calls by the Kurdish MP Narmin Osman to outlaw honour killings have been
blocked by fundamentalists. "Honour killings are not actually a crime in
the eyes of the government," said Houzan Mahmoud, who has had a fatwa on
her head since raising a petition against the introduction of sharia law in Kurdistan.
"If before there was one dictator persecuting people, now almost
everyone is persecuting women. "In the past five years
it is has got [much] worse. It is difficult to described how terrible it is,
how badly we have been pushed back to the dark ages. Women are being beheaded
for taking their veil off. Self immolation is rising – women are left with no
choice. There is no government body or institution to provide any sort of
support. Sharia law is being used to underpin government rule, denying women
their most basic human rights." In August last year, the
body of 11-year-old Sara Jaffar Nimat was found in Khanaqin, Kurdistan, after
she had been stoned and burnt to death. Earlier this month, two brothers and
a sister were kidnapped from their home near Kirkuk by gunmen in police uniforms.
The brothers were beaten to death and the woman left in a critical condition
after being informed that she must obey the rules of an "Islamic
state". One week ago, a journalist, Begard Huseein, was murdered in her
home in Arbil, northern Iraq. Her husband, Mohammed Mustafa, stabbed her
because she was in love with another man, according to local reports. The stoning death of Ms
Aswad led to the establishment of an Internal Ministry unit in Kurdistan to
combat violence against women. It reported that last year in Sulaymaniyah, a
city of 1 million people, there were 407 reported offences, beheadings,
beatings, deaths through "family problems", and threats of honour
killings. Rape is not included as most women are too fearful to report it for
fear of retribution. Nevertheless, police in Karbala recently revealed 25
reports of rape. The new Iraqi constitution,
according to Mrs Mahmoud, is a mass of confusing contradictions. While it
states that men and women are equal under law it also decrees that sharia law
– which considers one male witness worth two females – must be observed. The
days when women could hold down key jobs or enjoy any freedom of movement are
long gone. The fundamentalists have sent out too many chilling messages. In
Mosul two years ago, eight women were beheaded in a terror campaign. "It was really, really
horrifying," said Mrs Mahmoud. "Honour killings and murder are
widespread. Thousands [of people] ... have become victims of murder, violence
and rape – all backed by laws, tribal customs and religious rules. We urge
the international community, the government to condemn this barbaric
practice, and help the women of Iraq." External link: http://tinyurl.com/3fkjnx |