Kurdistan Government Reacts to Gruesome Murder of Teen Bride

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reacted Wednesday to the gruesome murder of a teenage girl by a husband three times her age, with Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani strongly condemning the incident and reiterating the government’s commitment to combating violence against women.

“Without prejudice to this case, which is currently under investigation, the KRG restates unequivocally its policy to protect the women of Kurdistan from violence and to prosecute perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law, without regard for supposed motivating pretext,” said a statement by the KRG.

Last week, an unidentified 45-year-old man murdered his 15-year-old child-bride, identified as Dunya, in a gruesome act of violence that involved cutting off her breasts, gouging her eyes, shooting her nine times with a gun and dragging her body tied behind a car.

Media reports quoted the victim’s mother as saying the girl was pregnant when she was killed, and that the husband had removed the fetus. The reason behind the killing has not been reported.

The KRG statement also quoted Prime Minister Barzani as saying that, “This act is far from any tradition - any cultural or religious tradition – and therefore I want to emphasize that the KRG will conscientiously follow-up this and other cases of violence.”

“We in the Kurdistan Region, and I myself as Prime Minister for the caretaker government, assure you that we strongly condemn this incident,” he said.

The premier added that the KRG is serious about putting a stop to violence against women in the Kurdistan Region and pointed out that “every effort will be taken to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to court.”

So-called “honor killings” are a common feature in traditional Iraqi Kurdistan, where women who are deemed to have dishonored the family by associating with men who are not immediate relatives are killed by a relative.

Every year, there are dozens of such cases, with victims often set on fire or forced into committing suicide.

The bodies of two sisters (aged 16 and 18) were pulled out of a pond near Sulaimani last February, after appearing in court to fight their family’s opposition to marrying men they had chosen themselves. Their bodies were discovered after the girls were released to their families from a government shelter in Sulaimani, where they had gone for protection.

Several years ago the KRG passed a law banning violence against women, including genital mutilation (FGM) and putting “honor killings” at the same level as murder.

The majority of “honor killings” take place in the Middle East and South Asia, and some cases have also taken place in the West, involving immigrants from those countries.

The United Nations Population Fund has estimated that some 5,000 honor killings take place in the world every year despite several UN General Assembly resolutions to put an end to such crimes.

As recently as Tuesday, a 25-year-old woman was stoned to death by her family in Pakistan for marrying a man she had chosen.

Farzana Iqbal was waiting for the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore to open when a group of around a dozen men began attacking her with bricks. Her father, two brothers and former fiancée were among the attackers, according to the Pakistani police.