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From left: the moment Zulaykha Hussein was stabbed by her brother in Ainkawa on May 16, 2022; Speaking to Rudaw two days later. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A woman was stabbed by one of her brothers dozens of times in Erbil late Monday over a dispute dating back to 2014. The woman told Rudaw on Wednesday that this was the third murder attempt by her family.
Footage obtained by Rudaw shows Zulaykha Hussein, 23, being stabbed by one of her brothers 28 times in Erbil province’s Ainkawa district after refusing to follow him. She told Rudaw’s Sidad Lashkiri on Wednesday that she sustained injuries to her face, head, hand, back and legs. She was rescued from the gruesome ordeal by passers-by, and her brother ran away.
Hussein, who preferred to be identified and show her face, said she has now filed a lawsuit against her brother, who remains at large.
In 2014, Hussein married a man against the will of her family who then threatened the couple. However, the family allegedly agreed to leave them alone.
“I have survived three murder attempts by my family. They initially wanted to kill me with a gun while I was in Zakho. I ran away, but I was hit in the leg,” she said. “The second time [another of my] brothers came to my home and tried to suffocate me with a rope. This time another brother of mine tried to kill me with a knife.”
Hussein, who is originally from Zakho, asked why her family agreed to leave them alone but then made their lives so unbearable.
The woman’s suffering surged when her husband committed suicide late last year after going bankrupt in a business. She was detained for months for suspected involvement in his death.
His parents suspected that she had a hand in his death, she explained, denying any involvement.
Hogir Aziz, Erbil police spokesperson, told Rudaw that they have launched an investigation into Hussein’s stabbing and an arrest warrant has been issued for her brother.
Adding to the woman’s trauma, she told Rudaw that a number of her children had died. Now, she is the sole parent of a five-year-old daughter.
Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani said in a tweet late Wednesday that he was “appalled and outraged by yet another attack on a woman by a family member, this time in Erbil,” and that “There is no excuse for violence against women.”
He added that the Region’s interior minister and security forces “are doing everything to bring this criminal to justice.”
Several femicides have been reported recently in the Kurdistan Region despite the Region’s efforts to end gender-based violence and so-called honor killings.
A woman was allegedly killed by her husband in Erbil on May 9 for a disagreement over “familial issues.”
“We must bolster efforts to challenge the toxic masculinity and patriarchal social norms that continue to result in violence. Together we must advocate for the prosecution of perpetrators and the strengthening of the Kurdistan Region Law to Combat Domestic Violence,” a February statement from the Erbil-based NGO SEED Foundation urged.
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