|
Iraqi Kurdistan: Physical assault against
women on rise in Sulaimaniyah
26.11.2011 |
|
|
|
November 26, 2011
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — According to a report
by the Directorate of Investigation of Violence
Against Women in Sulaimaniyah, 1409 men have been
arrested in relation to violence against women in
the past three years.
The directorate report said that such cases are on
the rise.
This report shows that besides detaining a large
number of men for interrogation, there are more than
1,000 men wanted for assaults and acts of violence
against women who have not been arrested yet.
Sarkawt Omer, head of the directorate of
investigation told Rudaw,
|
 |
“A small group of
culprits are on the run from justice, while many
others have their cases settled and it was not
necessary to arrest them,”
The report says that in the past three years 20
women and girls have been victims of kidnapping in
Kurdistan.
According to the report a copy of which was sent to
Rudaw, there crimes against women vary.
There have been 20 recorded homicide cases involving
women victims. Five women were murdered in 2008
alone and only one murderer was arrested.
In 2009, five women were murdered and four of the
perpetrators were arrested. In 2010, there have been
10 homicide cases and only three of the male
perpetrators have been arrested so far.
The report says that in the same three yeas, there
have been 17 failed attempts at murder of women.
Kajal Muhammad, an attorney in the Criminal Court of
Sulaimaniyah told Rudaw that cases of violence
against women are filed at the court everyday.
“We have witnessed a rise in cases that involve
women,” she said. “Everyday a few cases are brought
to court.”
Muhammad added, “There are arrest warrants against
all of them (perpetrators), but some of them have
not been arrested yet because they are either hiding
or have left the country,”
Cases of physical assault on women or “beating” are
dominant in the report. In the three years covered
by the report, more than 1200 cases of physical
assault against women were recorded in Sulaimaniyah
province alone.
According to the data, cases of “beating women” have
increased from 381 cases in 2008 to 460 in 2010.
A 34-year-old married woman who asked to be
identified by her initials as N. T said that she
once called the police on her husband after she was
beaten.
“He beat me during a verbal fight, and the police
summoned him after I complained against him,” she
said. “He (husband) then asked me to withdraw my
complaint at the police station and promised me not
to do that again. Now there are no problems between
us and we are back to our normal lives,”
Omer told Rudaw that his directorate works with the
security forces to detain those with arrest warrants
against them.
“Some of the assailants have not been captured by
the police yet because not all the cases require
detention,” Omer said. “Some of the cases get
settled and some of the detainees are released after
interrogation,”
Kurdo Omer, general-director of Combating Violence
Against Women at the Ministry of Interior, told
Rudaw that their powers to arrest homicide culprits
have increased in recent years,www.ekurd.net
mainly because political parties do not protect the
killers anymore.
“Now the police can function better,” he said. “I am
very optimistic about capturing all the murderers.
Many of them have already been arrested. They rarely
can escape from justice,”
Abdulkhaliq Talaat, Erbil Police Chief said that in
%95 of those indicted for killing women get
arrested.
“Those who have not been captured yet have fled
Iraqi Kurdistan to unknown places, but those who are
still here will be eventually captured no matter how
long it may take,” Talaat said.
By Nawzad Mahmoud
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
rudaw.net
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the
content of news information on this page
|
®
