July 28, 2009

STOP THE EXECUTIONS OF THE IRAQI WOMEN! 

According to Amnesty International. at least nine Iraqi women risk being executed at any moment. Three other women have been executed since the beginning of June. The women, whose execution may be immanent, have been moved to a special section of the Khadimya  women´s prison. One of the women, Samar Sa´ad, maintains that she was forced to ”confess” to the murder of relatives after torture by electric chock in the Hay-al-Khadra police station in Baghdad. Her testimony resulted in two hearings, but no investigation was carried out. For more details see Amnesty International´s information about the women: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18348 

     The women are: Samar Sa´ad Abdullah, Shuruq Hassun, Sabrine Nasser, Samira Abdullah, Um Hussain (mor Hussein, her name unknown), Hanan (her real name unknown), Dhikra Fakhry, Wassan Talib and Lamya Adnan. 

     During the first half of 2007 there was a broad international campaign against the execution of 4 women, three of whom were accused of “offences against the public welfare”. It was pointed out that none of the women had been able to consult with lawyers and that none of them admitted to having committed the crimes they were accused of at sham trials. The campaign was successful in stopping the executions. Two of the women, Wassan Talib and Samar Sa ád Abdullah, are now again facing execution. 

    More than 1000 executions are estimated to have been carried out in Iraq since 2004.  There is no recognized national judicial jurisdiction under occupation. Furthermore, on May 6, 2009 the UN organs OHCHR and UNAMI brought attention to a number of points where the Iraqi government fails to meet minimal demands for a fair trial as stipulated in article 14 of the International Convention on Civilian and Political Rights. The United Nations encouraged Iraq to introduce a moratorium on executions. The women of Iraq have suffered greatly under the occupation; in the prisons they are systematically raped and tortured. This has been confirmed by the former minister for Womens Affairs, Nawal al Sammaraie, when she resigned. 

     We are deeply shaken and angered about the absence of rights in Iraq under the occupation, an absence of rights that the occupation power bears ultimate responsibility for.

• Stop the executions of the Iraqi women!   Make public all information about the women!
• Recognize all the legal rights of the women!  Guarantee a stop for the rapes and torture!
• Stop all executions in Iraq!
  

We encourage political parties, parliamentarians, organisations and individuals to protest immediately to

• the Presidential Council in Iraq (consisting of President Jalal Talabai, Vice-Presidents Tariq al-Hashimi and  Vice-President Adil 'Abdul Mahd),
• the Prime Minister  Nuri al-Malaki
• as well as the US President Barrack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The Iraq Solidarity Association in Stockholm (IrakSolidaritet)
contact: info@iraksolidaritet.se   -   Web site: www.iraksolidaritet.se

(Written For the International Anti-Occupation Network)
Sigyn Meder
Translation: Mike Powers