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Iraqi Kurdish Feminist 'Houzan Mahmoud' in
London Targeted by Islamists
5.3.2007
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Death threats against women's
rights defender. A statement from the international
women's rights group MADRE
March 5, 2007
On February 26, 2007, Houzan Mahmoud, an
international representative of MADRE's sister
organization, the Organization of Women's Freedom in
Iraq, received an e-mail signed by Ansar al-Islam,
the notoriously brutal jihadist group based in
Kurdistan region (Iraq). The radical Ansar al-Islam
group is banned in Kurdistan region (Iraq) and
listed as a terrorist
group in Kurdistan, USA.
The death threat, delivered via e-mail, read, "With
the permission of Great God, we will kill you either
in Iraq or in London by the middle of March, because
you are campaigning against Islam. You should be
sent to God for punishment." Houzan Mahmoud, who is
currently based in London, is originally from Iraqi
Kurdistan, where she recently led a campaign against
the imposition of Islamic Sharia law in the proposed
constitution.
Ms. Mahmoud, aged 34, is an outspoken Iraqi
feminist, secularist, journalist, and human rights
activist. She has resolved to persist in her work,
despite being targeted by Ansar al-Islam.
In a letter to MADRE on February 27, Ms. Mahmoud
stated, "I will continue doing what I am doing now,
going around the world cultivating support for women
in Iraq and Kurdistan as well as exposing the
violence and gender apartheid that Islamists are
imposing on millions of women in the region."
MADRE denounces the threats made by Islamists
against Houzan Mahmoud, and condemns all attacks on
human rights defenders and women's rights activists.
MADRE notes that for more than two decades, its
sister organizations around the world have been
targeted with similar violence, from the death
squads of El Salvador, to the interahamwe militias
of Rwanda.
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Houzan Mahmoud is a political activist from Iraqi
Kurdistan and a co-founder of the Iraqi Freedom
Congress (IFC)
Mullah Krekar, the founder of radical and Terrorist
Islamist group Ansar al-Islam. Krekar, whose real
name is Fateh Najmeddin Faraj.
living in Oslo
Photo: AP |
MADRE stands opposed to all those who utilize
violence, intimidation, and mass killing in pursuit
of reactionary political and social agendas and
extends its strongest support to Houzan Mahmoud and
all Iraqi women who are fighting for their human
rights.
Houzan Mahmoud will be speaking Monday March 5, 6-8
PM in New York City:
Stony Brook Manhattan
401 Park Avenue South (at 28th St), 2nd floor
(Enter at 110 E. 28 St.)
ww4report com
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