“The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I’m about to introduce them to it.”
Once seen as one of Iraq’s most cosmopolitan places, the southern city of Basra - founded about 1,370 years ago - was undergoing profound social changes that were making it increasingly conservative and harsh even before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
‘No man can accept being left by a woman in Iraq. But I would prefer to be killed than sleep in the same bed as a man who was able to do what he did to his own daughter.’
‘The poor woman was killed and now her name and history is buried with her. No one wants to speak about it. She is just one more woman killed in our country who has already been forgotten by the local society.’
Mother who defied the killers is gunned down by: Afif Sarhan and Caroline Davies The Observer Sunday June 1 2008
Five weeks ago Leila Hussein told The Observer the chilling story of how her husband had killed their 17-year-old daughter over her friendship with a British soldier in Basra. Now Leila, who had been in hiding, has been murdered - gunned down in cold blood. Afif Sarhan in Basra and Caroline Davies report on the final act of a brutal tragedy
Leila Hussein lived her last few weeks in terror. Moving constantly from safe house to safe house, she dared to stay no longer than four days at each. It was the price she was forced to pay after denouncing and divorcing her husband - the man she witnessed suffocate, stamp on, then stab their young daughter Rand in a brutal ‘honour’ killing for which he has shown no remorse.
Though she feared reprisals for speaking out, she really believed that she would soon be safe. Arrangements were well under way to smuggle her to the Jordanian capital, Amman. In fact, she was on her way to meet the person who would help her escape when a car drew up alongside her and two other women who were walking her to a taxi. Five bullets were fired: three of them hit Leila, 41. She died in hospital after futile attempts to save her.
Her death, on 17 May, is the shocking denouement to a tragedy which had its origins in an innocent friendship between her student daughter, Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, and a blond, 22-year-old British soldier known only as Paul.
The two had met while Rand, an English student at Basra University, was working as a volunteer helping displaced families and he was distributing water. Although their friendship appears to have involved just brief, snatched conversations over four months, Rand had confided her romantic feelings for Paul to her best friend, Zeinab, 19.
She died, still a virgin, four months after she had last seen him when her father, Abdel-Qader Ali, 46, discovered that she had been seen talking ‘to the enemy’ in public. She had brought shame on his honour, was his defence, and he had to cleanse his family name. Despite openly admitting the murder, he has received no punishment.
اكد الممثل الخاص للامين العام للامم المتحدة في العراق ستيفان دي مستورا ان تقريرا اصدرته الأمم المتحدة مؤخرا كشف عن وقوع اكثر من 100 حالة قتل اوقطع اطراف للنساء في مدينة البصرة. واوضح في تصريح نشر اليوم الجمعة ان تلك الحالات وقعت بعد توجيه اتهامات باطلة لهن بعدم ارتداء ملابس محتشمة على حد قول المسؤول الدولي. من جهة ثانية استنكرت الجالية العراقية في مدينة ستوكهولم السويدية حيث انعقد مؤتمر العهد الدولي مع العراق اعمال العنف والقمع التي تتعرض لها المرأة العراقية. وأثنت الناشطة في شبكة النسوة العراقيات في السويد هناء ادور بوشا على الدور البارز الذي تلعبه المرأة في المجتمع العراقي، مشيرة إلى أن النساء يشكلن 55 بالمئة من إجمالي سكان العراق.
Increased honour crimes and female suicides in the Kurdistan region (Updated with English Summary)
This month has seen a surge in violence against women in so-called “honour killings” and female suicides according to medical reports from the KRG. In the first 10 days of the current month, May 2008, the city of Sulaymaniyah saw 14 female deaths. (At least one woman among seven women killed in mysterious circumstances is likely to have been the victim of “honour killings”.) In the same period 11 attempted female suicides took place.
Recent KRG figures give 50 attempted female suicides by setting themselves on fire and eight women who have attempted to hang themselves.
It should be noted that United Nations Mission in Irak regularly highlights “honour” crimes in the Kurdistan region, and that these crimes are continuing despite the campaigns organized by human rights activists and women members of the parliament in the province. According to Kurdish activist Kamal Lasso,the period between 1991 to 2007 witnessed the deaths of 12500 women due to “honour crimes” or suicides in the KRG.
قالت مصادر طبية في اقليم كردستان العراق ان شهر ايارالجاري شهد طفرة في اعمال العنف ضد المرأة في الإقليم نتيجة ازدياد جرائم الشرف وانتحار الإناث. واوضح مصدر طبي لوكالة الصحافة الفرنسية في مدينة السليمانية ان الأيام الـ 10 الأولى لشهر ايار الحالي شهدت مقتل 14 امرأة على الأقل من بينهم سبع نساء قتلن في ظروف غامضة رجح المصدر ان تكون جرائم شرف ، مضيفا أنه في الفترة نفسها سُجلت 11 محاولة للانتحار في الإقليم. ووفقا لأرقام اصدرتها حكومة الإقليم فإن محافظة السليمانية لوحدها شهدت 50 محاولة للانتحار من قبل نساء حاولن اشعال النار في اجسادهن، اضافة الى ثماني نساء حاولن شنق انفسهن. يشار الى ان بعثة الأمم المتحدة في العراق ابرزت بانتظام جرائم الشرف في اقليم كردستان واعتبرتها من اكثر الانتهاكات الجسدية خطورة في العراق ، كما أن هذه الجرائم تتواصل على الرغم من الحملات التي نظمها ناشطون في مجال حقوق الإنسان وادانة نساء أعضاء في برلمان الإقليم. ووفقا للناشط الكردي كمال اسو الذي يقيم في بريطانيا فإن الفترة ما بين 1991 حتى 2007 شهدت مقتل 12500 امرأة لأسباب تتعلق بجرائم الشرف او الانتحار في الإقليم حسب وكالة الصحافة الفرنسي
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - Medics in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Saturday that they had seen a surge in violence against women in May, with both so-called “honour” killings and female suicide on the increase.
“At least 14 women died in the first 10 days of May alone,” a doctor said in the region’s second largest city of Sulaimaniyah.
“Seven of them took their own lives, the other seven were murdered in still unexplained circumstances,” apparently the vctims of “honour” killings.
“Over the same period, we recorded 11 attempted self-immolations — these women were so desperate they set fire to themselves,” the doctor added, asking not to be identified.
