I was referred to this by a friend and it honestly left me speechless.
Mosul, Iraq — According to the Kurdish website Jebar.info up to 1000 men from the Yezidi Kurdish community of Mosul killed a teenager whose only crime was running away to marry a Muslim man whom she loved and converting to his religion.
For four months the girl had been given shelter by a local Muslim Sheik. It was reported that in the last few days her family persuaded her to return home, convincing her that she had been forgiven by her parents and relatives for her mistake.
In a short mobile video clip which appears to have been taken by locals at seen of the murder, the girl is seen being ambushed on her way home by a group of up to 1000 men who were waiting for her to return; the men killed her in the most brutal way possible, by throwing large stones on her head. The following clips show that while she is alive and crying for help she is taunted and kicked in her stomach until someone finishes her off by throwing a large stone on her face.
From the clips it appears that the girl was first stripped naked to symbolize that she had dishonored her family and her Yezidi religion. She is lying on the road naked while her smashed face is covered with blood and still breathing.
According to the website and footage from the clip a number of armed local police officers were present who in fact helped the crowd to kill the woman rather than preventing the crime. Sometime later the Iraqi army arrived at the scene and refused anyone entry, including the press.
Killing women for reasons of honor, shame and religion does happens in regions of Kurdistan and Iraq. The above incidents are not uncommon in some of the deeply religious and traditional communities. For long violence against women has been commonly used as a political and religious weapon and as a means of social control.
I am just in shock. They thought she dishonored them and ruined their reputation by marrying a Muslim, so they stripped her naked and beat her to death? How ignorant! Poor girl, she suffered a lot. This also shows how bad things are getting in Iraq with the absence of authority.
Posted by Jad on May 22, 2007 at 2:03 am
ya allah! very disgusting
Posted by qwaider on May 22, 2007 at 2:06 am
Regardless of religion … How could anyone raise a child for 17 years and just beat them to this like that?!
I swear if you raise a cat, You would have emotions and compassion more than these bastards!
Posted by Dave on May 22, 2007 at 3:24 am
There is nothing honorable about killing someone in the name of honor.
Posted by JoOd on May 22, 2007 at 7:18 am
allah ya5odhom
Posted by Maioush on May 22, 2007 at 12:55 pm
These people are SICK, VERY SICK… killing a 17 years old girl, and videotape it like this???? And then they ask: why do people from the west thinks that Arabs are being barbaric??? The hell with them
Posted by qwerty on May 22, 2007 at 3:50 pm
i can’t believe it… whats wrong with these people? Shes a human being
Posted by Hamzeh N. on May 22, 2007 at 6:53 pm
I saw this a couple of weeks ago, on a Friday, in the morning, at work, and I think I will never forget it. A person posted a link to it on YouTube, without providing a warning for what was in it, I flagged the YouTube video and it was taken off within minutes. I wasn’t normal that day.
According to the news reports I read, the family of the girl had actually pardoned her and wanted her to just go back to live with them normally, but it was certain individuals in the town who sought her blood.
I don’t think this poor girl’s fate is worse than the fate of the rest of the victims of such *shame* crimes in the region, it’s just that we, the recipients of the story, are affected more severely by this story when we actually witness the crime as it was recorded than when we simply read about it in text form and it stays at that.
Do you imagine that a video of a girl who was stabbed with a butcher’s knife would be any easier to watch? No, it would be much worse actually, yet we’ve all read about that story, but our reaction to it was not as strong as our reaction is to this one.
I really don’t know what to think of the issue of circulating the video of such incidents as this. Part of me thinks it’s wrong to circulate videos of people as they die; I somehow think that those moments need to be respected and the fact that there are people out there who actually *enjoy* watching such videos makes me want to put myself in as remote position as possible from such behavior, even if that meant I couldn’t watch the video.
But part of me says that if it weren’t for this video, I could have maybe dismissed this story as just another crime like all the rest that we read about in the newspapers and soon enough become statistics. This video has made this girl’s story personal to me, because I saw her dying. And when I think that the way this girl was murdered wasn’t even the most violent way some of these victims have died before, it makes each of their stories just as personal to me as this one has become.
I’m gonna try to reassure myself and everyone else that justice will be served in the end, and the people who killed this girl, are going to pay a very heavy price, insha2allah!
Posted by Sharifo on May 23, 2007 at 2:11 pm
7asbona allah wa ne3ma el wakeel.
as they bring shame to their family by entering Islam
yel3an abu el jahel wel marad…7alal fehom el 7are2
Posted by Hala on May 23, 2007 at 5:33 pm
I really am still in denial. I do not want to believe that such things and even more horrible things take place around us. What annoys me the most is that they ruin the image of Islam because the West would usually link such incidents to Islam and terror.
Hamzeh N.: It is outrageous to know that some people went ahead and killed her brutally even though the family itself had pardoned her! Since when do random people just assign themselves in charge?
I agree with you; the story affected me much because I actually saw it rather than only read about it. They were just standing there and recording the whole thing as if it were a game or something. I can still hear the girl’s cries. It really makes you feel sad and angry at the same time.
I know many girls and women face the same situation if not worse. Why? Because some people have chosen to not understand what the term ‘Honor’ means! Like Dave said: “There is nothing honorable about killing someone in the name of honor.”
I always say we need to educate people. Education and education and more education. We should get rid of the old traditions and wrong beliefs. We should teach men how to respect women, and teach women how to be aware of their rights as human beings before everything and anything else. More importantly, people need to differentiate between social factors and religious rules, which vary a lot meaning that when someone justifies the killings under the name of Islam or something, others will not be ignorant and agree. They will stand up and defend their religion.
I did not enjoy watching the videos, and I am sure we all felt bad about it. However, this just has to to be seen. Let the world see how unfair some things are! Maybe more people will spread it and talk about it and then something can be done and change the way things are, even if slightly, no?
Like you, once I saw this, I started to realize how worse things must have been for other girls who died in a more ugly way. Hopefully, the murderers behind it and everyone who is responsible for such crimes ARE going to pay for it and be punished.
Posted by Update on the Video of Stoning « Soul Blossom on June 27, 2007 at 12:17 am
[...] there, I clicked it, and there is obviously a discussion about the video of stoning; something I posted [...]
Posted by ingrid birgitsdottir on August 16, 2007 at 12:58 pm
a thousand of those big, tough men against a seventeen year old girl? What heroes.
What cowardly scum.
But those posters talking about those behind acts like this being punished are very naive. They already have got away with it, Iraqi police either part of it, or too weak to draw their weapons and at least try to do what they have sworn to do in upholding laws. Their punishment will come in sheol.
Best thing for the whole benighted nation of savages would be a line of mushroom clouds.
Posted by Hala on August 17, 2007 at 5:38 pm
I know it is just beyond words. Still, the situation in Iraq is different as it is going from bad to worse considering that the US troops roam free over there pretending to be liberating, which we can obviously see in a young boy’s eyes who has just lost his leg (Being ironic here for those who do not get it)
Even though punishment for such crimes -honor crimes- is too light in other countries like Jordan for example, it still is being enforced.
Education! When will we wake up and start doing things right?
Posted by Ben Lacey on August 19, 2007 at 10:40 am
I have seen many things in my life. Things that maybe a person should not see. However, the images of what happened to this young girl at the hands of these people chilled me to the bone.
Murder is murder whatever the reason. How can anyone, of any culture, regard what happened to this 17 year old as anything but simple murder.
How can they stand in the face of God (whichever God you feel it to be) and believe that in some way they will be congratulated for doing good in his eyes.
Many men in that place, will strut about proudly bragging what wonderful work they have done. Maybe feeling that sense of masculine pride of doing such a ‘brave’ deed. The truth is us men of the world regard you with contempt and would love to see how truly brave you are.
You may be brave in the face of a 17 year old terrified girl with a baying crowd behind you. But I suspect you would be a whimpering mess in the face of anything stronger.
And for those who seek to justify these acts with quotes from Allah. I believe Allah turns his face from such things in disgust.
I also believe even now, he comforts this sad young girls soul.
Posted by Hala on August 19, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Thanks for your ueful input, and I should add: Allah does not approve of such acts. Some people use some -modified by them- quotes to justify such incidents.
Posted by Muneeb Pakistani on August 20, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Oh My God .What is happening in this world.my friend hit me a small stone but it was veary painfull.I could not bear that pain .how could she had a pain…… A large size unlimited stones
Posted by Italian on September 18, 2007 at 9:36 am
No comment on the video should be made by humans. Only my personal words.
I just have seen this video clip. Honestly speacking I always thinked, and in fact it is, that the Americans and even israel are in the middle est only for oil and geopolitic reasons so I never didn’t care about theyr successful in this war against the arabian.
After seen this video, I really hope that americans , israelian or whatever, will be able, to PHISICALLY CANCEL, in the soonest time , this arabian , kurdish or similar bastards animals, and theyr culture, from the face of the this world.
Posted by Hala on September 30, 2007 at 2:46 pm
I just have to add that the people in the video do not follow the teachings of Islam and do not represent their countries or nations. And yes, they deserve to be punished.
Posted by ynotphysical on January 14, 2008 at 10:41 pm
The people who were part of this atrocious act are “animals”. No, they are worse. Those who say that she did wrong and she deserved it – should die the same way. Blow those fuckers up and start all over. There are many people from those countries who move to the U.S. and become “civilized”. They have been fucked up for so many centuries – that I find it almost impossible for some of them. God bless that young girls soul and her family – they need it.
Posted by Friend on July 11, 2008 at 5:48 pm
This is not a Kurdish girl as they put it. She is Iraqi/ Arab. Kurdih people never treat their women like this because they believe the only one who should take someone’s life it should be God, not another human being. Is hard to see this.
Posted by Hala on July 27, 2008 at 1:28 am
I would not say that the actions of the American government are civilized
I do not really know her origins, but I know Islam does not preach what you saw in the video.
Posted by mr peace on September 8, 2008 at 5:06 pm
i am really saderned i still have vision of this girl and the awful beating she had gone through…….i dont think animals dont even do what these people have done to this girl….i wish god destroys them all like the people of lut
Posted by morning dew on November 8, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I prefer to call this “femicide” rather than “honor” killing as some women rights activists called it to disassociate this inhumane barbarian murder with any honorable. This is nothing to do with any religion. Yezidis, Muslims, Christians did and are still practicing it today. It is all about stupid culture. Five thousands femicide is reported every year and much more were left unidentified.
Jordan and Palestine are said to be the most case.
The only crime they did is fall in love and they were brutally killed simply because they are women.
Posted by g williams on September 4, 2009 at 10:13 pm
For those who claim this is not “true Islam,” you are either blowing smoke or know nothing about your holy writings. In Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi and most other Muslim countries, well over half of the population believes that stoning or beheading should be mandatory for those that renounce Islam, let alone “real” crimes.
Or are you claiming that most Muslims and Muslim clerics don’t even understand their own faith?
I think it’s called taqqiyah– the requirement in Islam to lie to infidels as long as it advances or protects islam.
Posted by Hala on September 15, 2009 at 9:42 am
They do understand their own faith. However, Islam is God’s religion and God is merciful. People always have the chance to repent.
Any corrective actions should be done in private and by people who are assigned to do them, not a bunch of ignorants appointing themselves as the girl’s guardians.