Another Sad Story of Honor Killing

Iraq is in great mess, initiated mostly by U.S. ill conceived invasion in 2003. Hundreds of thousands died from war, unknown numbers are wounded. When one hears constant barrage of tragic episodes unfolding in Iraq year after year, another sad story of honor killing of a 17 year old girl from Basra seemed to be so "insignificant" in the eyes of many. But is it really "insignificant"?

This story is heart wrenching. A mother's cry for help from her two sons while the father was beating the girl after learning of her "affair" with a British soldier, and the shock she received seeing her two sons instead was helping the father extinguishing the life from this poor girl for the purpose of keeping the "honor" of their family is hard to describe.

Here are a few extracts from The Guardian's article:

'I screamed and called out for her two brothers so they could get their father away from her. But when he told them the reason, instead of saving her they helped him end her life,' she said.

She said Ali used his feet to press down hard on his own daughter's throat until she was suffocated. Then he called for a knife and began to cut at her body. All the time he was calling out that his honour was being cleansed.

'I just couldn't stand it. I fainted.' recalled Leila. 'I woke up in a blur later with dozens of neighbours at home and the local police.'

According to Leila, her husband was initially arrested. 'But he was released two hours later because it was an "honour killing". And, unfortunately, that is something to be proud of for any Iraqi man.'

At the police station where the father was held Sergeant Ali Jabbar told The Observer last week: 'Not much can be done when we have an "honour killing" case. You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws.

'The father has very good contacts inside the Basra government and it wasn't hard for him to be released and what he did to be forgotten. Sorry but I cannot say more about the case.'

Rand, considered impure, was given only a simple burial. To show their repugnance at her alleged crime, her family cancelled the traditional mourner ceremony.

Two weeks after the murder, Leila left Ali. She could no longer bear to live under the same roof as her daughter's killer and asked for a divorce. 'I was beaten and had my arm broken by him,' she said. 'No man can accept being left by a woman in Iraq. But I would prefer to be killed than sleep in the same bed with a man who was able to do what he did to his own daughter, who, over the years, had only given him unconditional love.'

Now she works for a women's organisation campaigning against honour killings. 'I just want to try to stop other girls having the same fate as my beloved Rand,' said Leila who is forced to move regularly from friend to friend

Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/27/iraq.military1