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AhmedA memorial anniversary for Du'a
April 7th 2008 09:29
Today marks the first year anniversary from a brutal death of a teenager who was publicly stoned to death because of a forbidden love towards someone who was not in the same believe as she and her family was.
I received an email from the "Stop Violence against Women & Children" cause, encouraging everyone out there to sign a petition in remembrance of a child who was a victim of honour killings, which happened in Iraq.
To know a little more about this child, we take a look on what wikipedia has to say:
Du’a Khalil Aswad (1989 or 1990 – c. April 7, 2007) was a 17-year-old Iraqi Kurd of the Yazidi faith who was stoned to death in an honour killing. It is believed that she was killed around April 7, 2007, but the incident did not come to light until video of the stoning, apparently recorded on a mobile phone, appeared on the Internet.
The Yazidi (also Yezidi, Kurdish: Ęzidî ) are adherents of the smallest of the three branches of Yazdânism, a Middle Eastern religion with ancient Indo-European roots. Yazidis are primarily Kurdish speaking, and most live in the Mosul region of northern Iraq. There are traditional communities in Transcaucasia, Turkey, and Syria, but these have declined since the 1990s, their members emigrating to Europe, especially to Germany. The term Dasni or Dasny is used by the Yazidis as a self-designation.
Du'a was born in 1989 or 1990, in Bashiqa, Iraq, to Khalil Aswad and his wife. By 2006, she was a second-year student at the Fine Arts Institute in Bashiqa. She fell in love with her neighbour, Muhannad, whose parents owned a cosmetics store.
Possible Motive
Some reports say Aswad was murdered for having converted to Islam to marry an Iraqi Sunni Muslim boy. It is disputed whether or not she actually converted to Islam; some reports say the Sunni boyfriend has denied that she had. Other sources instead indicate that Aswad was killed in punishment for being absent from her home one night.
Some news agencies reported that Aswad was being sheltered by a Yazidi tribal leader in Bashika in fear of her life until her family persuaded her that she had been forgiven and could return home. Other reports indicate that she was instead given asylum by a local Muslim Sheikh. It is not known whether the same members of her family that convinced her to return home were responsible for her death. Her father allegedly accused accused his brother, Saleem, of orchestrating the stoning.
It is not clear from the video whether she was ambushed while returning to her home, or if the mob stormed her home and dragged her into the street. Estimates of the number of attackers range from 1000 - 2000 men.
Stoning
The incident took place in Bashika, a town in Ninawa Governorate, and was filmed on mobile phones and widely distributed throughout the Internet. Aswad was apparently stripped of her clothing down to her undergarments; allegedly, this symbolized that she had dishonored her family and religion. During the stoning, which lasted approximately 30 minutes, Aswad can be seen in the video attempting to sit up and calling for help as the crowd taunts her and repeatedly throws a large chunk of rock or concrete on her head. A man can then be heard declaring "Kill her!" in Arabic. Finally, as she lay face down, an unidentified man steps up and throws what appears to be a concrete block to the back of her head.
After her death Aswad was buried with the remains of a dog, allegedly to demonstrate that she was worthless. An autopsy revealed that she died of a fractured skull and spine.
This was indeed a very sad incident when most of the countries and nations have claimed that men has moved forward in civilisation but this still take place.
A petition movement has started in remembrance of Du'a and many other victims of honour killings and for those who would want to place a petition of "We will never forget you Du'a" are mostly welcomed at the link below:
International Campaign against killings and stoning of women in Kurdistan
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