Scenes From An Iraki Childhood May 21st 2007
There was a mortar attack in Baqubah today.
Three people were killed and 15 wounded. Among the wounded was this lady photographed here in Baqubah hospital with her child beside her.
Zeynab
Archive > 21 May 2007
IRAQ: Nafisa Ridwan, Iraq - “Mine is a dirty and miserable life”
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BAGHDAD, 21 May 2007 (IRIN) - Nineteen-year-old Nafisa Ridwan says she was forced to work as a sex worker to feed her younger brothers after her father died in an attack in the capital, Baghdad. With her mother seriously sick with a heart condition and without anyone to look after the family, she had to resort to prostitution after failing to find other work.
She gets enough money to feed herself, her mother and three younger brothers, and is able to buy medicine for her mother. Nafisa says she cries every time she sleeps with a man but feels happy when she sees her brothers - Muhammad (16), Mustafa (14) and Khalija (10) - eating. “I was studying literature at college when my father died a year ago. Desperately broke and with my mother’s health deteriorating every day, I was forced to leave university and find a job. “I tried looking for different kinds of work but in Iraq being a woman is really tough. With no money to buy food, someone told me he would give me money if I slept with him. I was reluctant at first but later when I saw that things were getting worse and we were going to be evicted from the house we were renting because we were late with the rent, I decided to accept the guy’s offer and I have been a sex worker since then. At the time, I was a virgin and saw my precious honour [virginity] being taken for miserable dinars. But I had no option because I couldn’t let my mother or brothers starve. |
IRAQ: Sunni extremists threaten to kill Christian converts in north
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SULAIMANIYAH, 21 May 2007 (IRIN) - A Sunni extremist group - al-Qaeda in Iraq - has threatened to kill Muslim youths in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah should they convert to Christianity or Zoroastrianism.
“We are hunting those who have converted to Christianity or Zoroastrianism as we consider them renegades and God’s punishment must be implemented by killing them,” said a statement posted on the al-Farouk website on 22 April and signed by al-Qaeda in Iraq. The statement, whose authenticity could not be immediately confirmed, also urged the youth to join “[the] Mujahedin and hoist the jihad flag against the crusaders who are occupying Iraq, instead of supporting them.” “We are not afraid of them; in fact, they are welcome if they want to kill us,” said Sabeer Ahmed, 37, who converted to Christianity seven months ago and works at Christ Church in the town of Pishdar in Sulaimaniyah province. “We will be happy to be martyrs when we sacrifice ourselves for our religion,” said Ahmed who works as a freelance journalist with Kurdish media groups.
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