Kurdistan PM Promises Tough Line on Honour Killings
Erbil (AKI) - June 19, 2007- The prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan Neghervan
Barzani has vowed that tough measures will be taken against those guilty of
so-called honour killings. Barzani was talking at a meeting with some of his
ministers and leaders of human rights and women groups. "The government
authorities will take the toughest legal measures" he promised. In a press
conference following the meeting, Barzani said that "recently there have been
horrendous crimes committed against women in some areas of [the autonomous
region of] Kurdistan".
"While we condemn these crimes, we also rebuke the government ministers and
other bodies for not having applied suitable solutions to prevent such episodes
reoccurring".
The regional premier then proposed to change the definition of these crimes,
called "honour crimes" in the penal code, to "murder".
According to Barzani, these acts "indicate a deterioration within society and a
backwardness in its values and culture." He appealed to clerics, to teachers and
university professors to help people become aware of the problem, stressing that
the battle against such brutality was a collective duty.
Kurdish regional MP and women's' activist Susan Shihab told Adnkronos
International (AKI) that "the Kurdish parliament had already carried our the
amendments to the Iraqi penal code regarding honour crimes, cancelling the
extenuating factors. But it is the government's responsibility not having
applied the law and for not having mobilies to put an end to these horrendous
crimes".
In April the stoning to death of a 17-year-old girl belonging to the minority
non-Muslim Yezidi sect - for allegedly having brought shame and dishonour on her
family by having a relationship with a Muslim boy - triggered a wave of
reprisals towards members of this minority across Kurdistan, including the
killing of 21 Yezidi workers on a bus in Mosul. Even now many Yezidi students in
the schools and universities have decided not to undertake their final exams for
fear of reprisals by Muslims.
