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Marywan Halabjaye: Interviewed by Voice of
America
25.3.2006
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VOA, 25 March, - Islamic extremists in Iraqi
Kurdistan have threatened Marywan Halabjayee with
death for writing a book they say is critical of the
status of women under Islam. The book, entitled
“Sex, Sharia and Women in the History of Islam,” was
published in Iraqi Kurdistan in November 2005.
In a telephone interview with the Voice of America,
Marywan Halabjayee said he wants to foster a frank
discussion of Islamic teachings concerning women:
“I am trying to say that women in all religions,
certainly in Islam, have been denied their natural
rights. I am doing a scientific content analysis of
the Koran using particular verses and particular
hadith [traditions related to the Prophet Mohammad]
which show this.”
The Islamic League of Kurdistan reacted to the book
by issuing a fatwa against its author. “The mullahs
and scholars said [that] if I go to them and
apologize, they will give me eighty lashes and then
refer me to the fatwa committee to decide if I am to
be beheaded. They might forgive me, they might not,”
said Mr. Halabjayee. He says that he is now in
hiding. Imad Ahmad is the deputy prime minister of
the Kurdish regional government in Sulaymaniyah: |
Mariwan Halabjayi |
“A number of clerical associations and religious
persons have registered a legal case against him for
his writings and they consider his work worse [more
offensive] than [Indian born British author] Salman
Rushdie. And this is something that the courts will
have to decide.”
Rebwar Fatah is the director of the online newspaper
KurdishMedia.com. He says the right of Mr.
Halabjayee and other Iraqi Kurds to freedom of
expression should be respected:
“Marywan Halabjayee has every right to express his
own opinions, no matter what they are, without any
fear of persecution. Societies that deprive their
intellectuals from expressing themselves freely
cannot move forward.”
“It is time," he said, "for this generation of Kurds
to pursue the same democratic concepts that have
brought prosperity to many other societies.”
The free expression of ideas is a fundamental human
right. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
the U.S. “must always stand in solidarity with
courageous men and women across the globe who live
in fear yet dream of freedom.”
The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views
of the United States Government.
voanews com
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