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Kurdistan: Women Tortured by “Mobile Phone
Abuse”
3.5.2008
By Amanj Khalil in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan
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Some
have even become victims of so-called honour
killings after being unwittingly filmed in
compromising situations.
May 3, 2008
Kurdistan Region 'Iraq'
Salma trusted her boyfriend enough to speak freely
with him about romance, love and even sex.
But she has paid a high price for her candour. Salma,
who asked that her real name be concealed because of
the sensitivity of her story, is hiding in a women’s
shelter in the northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah,
her body battered and bruised.
Her boyfriend recorded their intimate conversations
on his phone and passed them onto her family through
a friend when she refused to marry him. Salma’s body
still bears the scars of her family’s response. The
28-year-old’s hand was fractured during one of the
beatings from her brothers, father and uncles.
“They started to beat me without even letting me
speak,” she said. “They beat me so severely that I
fainted several times."
She fled her home in Grmyan, a mostly rural area in
Sulaimaniyah province, with the help of a women’s
organisation and her young sister. Salma fears that
she will be the victim of an “honour killing”, if
she ever returns.
Mobile phones have become a new threat to young
women’s safety in Iraq’s northern region, members of
parliament and women’s rights campaigners warn.
Men are using them to take photos and record audio
and video clips of women and girls who are breaking
social codes by having sexually explicit
conversations or intimate relations with their
boyfriends. In many cases, the conversations and
videos have been widely distributed, damaging
women’s reputations and, in doing so, putting their
lives at risk.
In 2007, nearly 350 women the victims of violence in
mobile-phone related cases, according to statistics
compiled by women’s organisations and the
Sulaimaniyah police directorate. In 2006, 170 cases
were recorded.
However, experts believe that the actual number of
incidents is much higher.
The first case was believed to be in 2004, when
footage of a 17-year-old girl having sex with a boy
circulated in Erbil. Two days after the video was
made public, the girl’s family killed her. A week
after the incident, the boy was also killed by his
family.
Despite its reputation as the most progressive
region of Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan continues to
struggle with women’s rights issues. The abuse of
women who have been recorded on mobile phones is
part of a larger pattern of violence and so-called
honour crimes committed against women in the north,
maintain rights activists.
“Women and girls in Kurdistan live in a dangerous
situation because they are attacked on a daily basis
in the name of honour. No one is defending them,”
said Najiba Mahmood,www.ekurd.net
a women’s activist and head of
Civilisation Development Organisation, a
Sulaimaniyah-based non-governmental organisation.
She said the audio, video and photos of women being
distributed via mobile phones “is the worst problem
for women and girls. If it is not solved, many more
crimes will be carried out under the name of
protecting honour”.
Several reasons have been posited for why young men
are secretly taping and photographing their
girlfriends.
Many are thought to be using the materials to boast
about relationships with their friends. And, as in
the case of Salma,www.ekurd.net
some are seeking to take revenge
on women who’ve spurned them.
Suzanne Shahab, an MP in the Iraqi Kurdistan
parliament, who is campaigning against the abuse,
said it stems from a lack of education and sexual
repression.
Samira Mohammed, a researcher with the
government-sponsored Centre to Counter Violence
Against Women in Sulaimaniyah, agreed the trend is
more widespread in poorly educated communities – but
insisted “the educated classes are not immune”.
MPs are proposing legislation that they hope will
protect women from what has become known as “mobile
phone abuse”. The draft, which parliament is to
debate in May, would fine or imprison individuals
who distribute video, audio or photos that are
deemed to damage the honour of women.
MPs have proposed fines of 75,000 to 1 million Iraqi
dinars (60 to 850 US dollars) or between six months
and 15 years in prison. Victims would also be able
to sue for financial compensation.
“If we have a good law it might help to reduce the
trend,” said Arez Abdullah, an MP who helped draft
the legislation.
“If people know that they will face punishment for
misusing mobile phones, then they will think twice
before using it inappropriately.”
Banaz Hussein, deputy director of Asuda, a women’s
rights NGO, is currently helping several victims of
mobile phone abuse. She said she is alarmed at the
trend, yet does not think that a law will end the
abuse.
"Kurdistan is developing, but people still adhere to
the old customs and traditions,” she said. “And
women are still the primary victims.”
Twana Ali, spokesman for the Centre to Counter
Violence Against Women, said the law would make it
easier to track the number of mobile phone-related
abuse cases and act as a deterrent.
“There must be laws to solve these issues,” said
Ali. “Just telling people not to misuse mobile
phones doesn’t work.”
Amanj Khalil is an IWPR-trained journalist in
Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, iwpr
net
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