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Iranian Kurdistan: A woman could be
executed for wearing make
29.6.2007
By Diana Nammi
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Diana
Nammi: Training is needed to recognise dangers
June 29, 2007
When Khaleda and Rebin came to me last year their
story was one I had heard numerous times before. As
a Kurdish woman from Iran, I had grown up in a
country where women were made victims both by their
own family and through their government's
perceptions of honour.
In Iranian Kurdistan a woman could be killed or
executed for simple "crimes" such as wearing
make-up, rejecting an arranged marriage, dressing
inappropriately, seeking divorce or being in love.
Little did I know that when I came to Britain, a
place where women's basic rights are supposedly
respected and guaranteed, some women would still be
at risk of death for bringing "shame" on their
families.
In 2002 I set up the Iranian and Kurdish Women's
Rights Organisation (IKWRO), a charity that helped
Kurdish, Farsi and Arabic-speaking women in London
to find the protection they desperately needed. At
the time, honour killings were usually treated as
nothing more than domestic murders and were simply
not dealt with properly. Not wanting to appear
culturally insensitive or - worse - racist, the
police tended not to realise how much danger some of
these women were in.
Then, two months after we set up IKWRO, Heshu Yones
was murdered by her own father. A bright and
beautiful teenager, Heshu's "crime" was to have
fallen in love with a Lebanese boy. Her father,
Abdulla, stabbed her 17 times and then slit her
throat, all in the name of regaining his "honour".
The judge sentenced Abdulla to just 14 years in
prison, arguing that the lenient sentence should
take into account his cultural background.
Heshu's murder should have forced the police and the
Government to confront the fact that honour killings
were not just incidences of domestic violence but a
deeply serious and organised crime that could not be
excused regardless of cultural sensitivities. They
promised to learn from her death, increase training
for police officers dealing with these crimes and
thankfully began re-examining more than 100 murders
that may have been honour killings.
But I am yet to be convinced that the police have
learnt. Last month, the father and uncle of another
Kurdish girl, Banaz Mahmod,
were found guilty of her murder. Banaz had gone to
the police for help four times but was turned away.
Honour killings do happen in Britain and whether we
like it or not we must stop them. Care workers,
teachers, GPs, hospitals, welfare officers should
all be trained to recognised when someone is in
danger of becoming a victim of an honour killing and
help them. Rebin and Khaleda were lucky. They have
been able to start their lives again. But they will
always be looking over their shoulders.
Diana Nammi is the co-ordinator of the Iranian
and Kurdish Women's Rights
comment at independent co.uk
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