We want to give moral support to the Arabs who suffer so grievously in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere at the hands of American Empire. However, on the issue below, there is no way we can support the Arabs who carry out so-called honor killings. (It is Arabic being spoken in the video.) Rather, we can only say that the men who carried out this heinous action are not at all men. They are beasts and they are cowards of the lowest calibre. They are not fit to live on this earth. How can they consider themselves men when they throw bricks on top of an already dead defenseless helpess teen age girl who in fact had committed no physical "crime," was still a virgin, and who only committed the emotional crime of falling in love with a Sunni. She only gave away her heart. These are not men in this video. They are beasts in human form. They should not even have the right to exist on this earth. - WPA
Please read the article below and watch the video. It is an education about the lowest of the low on this earth.
Du'a Khalil Aswad, a 17-year old Kurdish girl from the Yezidi religion, was stoned to death on 7 April 2007 in an honor killing in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. Her murder was carried out by Du’a’s relatives and men from the Yezidi faith, Amnesty International reported in late April.
In response to Du'a’s murder, 23 Yezidi workers were killed by men from the Sunni Muslim faith.
Human Rights Watch defines honor crimes as, “acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members who are perceived to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by her family for a variety of reasons including, refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce -- even from an abusive husband -- or committing adultery.”
Her stoning continued for 30 minutes and was captured on several cell phones. The video was then posted on the Internet, receiving widespread viewership from one video sharing website, YouTube.com. However, recently, YouTube.com took down the video.
A 10-minute clip can be seen on Jebar.info. I must warn the viewer that this video clip is very graphic and contains disturbing images.
In this troubling video, one can see a large crowd of men, reported to be from the Yezidi sect, participating in the stoning and capturing it on video. Amnesty International also reported that, “The film reportedly shows that members of local security forces were present but failed to intervene to prevent the stoning or arrest those responsible.”
Kurdish women's rights campaigner Diana Nammi, according to The Daily Mail in the UK, explained that Du'a's body thereafter had been dispatched to the Medico-legal Institute in Mosul, Iraq for an assessment of her virginity prior to revisiting her “unmarked grave” in the Sheikh Shams cemetery. The test revealed she was still a virgin and innocent of her alleged crime.
Her crime? Forbidden love. Although there have been conflicting reports, it had been reported that Du’a had converted to Islam after having married a Sunni Muslim boy, which is prohibited by the Yezidi faith. While other news outlets have stated that she had been away from home one night, raising suspicion from her relatives.
The Yezidi religion forbids one from marrying outside of the religion and do not allow any converts. It is pre-Islamic and is dated before the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The estimated population is 500,000 although the exact amount is not known as the Yezidis practice a religious tradition of privacy. They believe to be descendants of Adam, not Eve.
One must note that the murder of women in the name of honor in Kurdistan, Iraq, and elsewhere is not unique and should not be attributed solely to any faith.
Amnesty International stated, “While the Kurdish authorities introduced legal reforms to address “honour killings” they have, however, failed to investigate and prosecute those responsible for such crimes.”
Four men, two of whom are relatives, have been arrested for her murder and the chief of police will be substituted, CNN reported on 21 May 2007.
Rima Abdelkader is a NY-based journalist and a graduate of Pace University in NY.
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