A fun outing
Cellphone videos have appeared on the Internet showing an Iraqi mob stoning and kicking to death a 17-year-old girl after she offended her minority community by eloping with a Muslim man…In the video – on the Kurdish website Jebar.Info and rapidly spreading on the Internet – Aswad is shown lying in the road as men kick her and throw a large lump of rock or concrete at her head. Her face is drenched in blood but uniformed and armed officers of the Iraqi police stand by and do nothing to prevent the attack…At one point she struggles to sit up and cover herself, but a man kicks her in the face knocking her violently back to the ground…Members of a large crowd can be seen filming the murder on their cellphones, some of them shouting or kicking out at the cowering victim. Nobody tries to help her.
What a lovely, lovely, heartening story. How pleasant it is to know that a mob of men can stand around watching and even fucking filming a slight thin teenage girl being kicked and bludgeoned with rocks, and 1) not help her and 2) join in.
No actually it isn’t pleasant. It’s both horrifying and terrifying. It’s despair-inducing – to know that people can and do let stupid, trivial, unimportant rules or traditions or loyalties or ideologies override what ought to be natural pity and revulsion and fellow-feeling to the point that they can take pleasure in battering people to death.
Be careful about drawing attention to such things. Somebody will probably call you ‘islamophobic’.
Read the bloody story, Bob.
According to the report at Amnesty, “Du’a Khalil Aswad’s murder is said to have been committed by relatives and other Yezidi men because she had engaged in a relationship with a Sunni Muslim boy and had been absent from her home for one night. Some reports suggested that she had converted to Islam, but others deny this.” My reading of this at the time was that the fact that the boy was a Sunni Muslim wasn’t the crucial issue here: it was simply that she’d spent a night with a man. The local Sunnis then decided that she’d converted, was therefore a martyr, and so they had the opportunity – not to be missed – to massacre a bus load of Yezidis.
Later recountings of the story – as in the Daily Mail – then stressed the religious element. I doubt we’ll ever get the truth, but I’d be interested to know if my initial take was the correct one and the religious element’s been grafted on to what was in reality another straightforward – though particularly brutal – honour killing.
I did read the story, and I repeat: there are people around who will say that drawing attention to such things is ‘islamophobic’. Of couse such people are fools.
To err is human. To really screw up requires a computer. To engage in blood-curdling evil requires religion.
Just for the halibut, I stopped by a few of the usual dens of wrong-wing hatemongering — Malkin, the Late German Fascists, Debbie Schutzstaffel (er, Schlussel) — the ones who jump all over the “moose limbs” (as the Late German Fascists call them) when they engage in such behavior.
Zip. Nada. It’s not the “moose limbs” so it must be OK. Or maybe this poor girl deserved to die because she converted to Islam.
“Nobody tries to help her”.
What a sad indictment, what a very sad indictment indeed.
The bystanders, by their inaction are as guilty as the relatives who stoned Doaa khalil Aswad.
I hope the minds of the culprits are metaphorically drenched in blood till the day they meet their pre Islamic Biblical Abraham/Koranic prophets/and chief archangels in the guise of a peacock.
Yeah, the busload of random Yazidis was a nice touch too. blurgh.
Irony fumble, Don! Never mind; I’ve made quite a few of those.
That is really horrifyingly disgusting. The whole thing — thinking in such barbaric ways, committing such a heinous act, photographing it, and putting it on the internet! Why the last? What possibly could be the point?
And how do those people live with themselves?
And then the mass murder of the bus passengers! What a benighted place.
“Why the last? What possibly could be the point?”
I think it must seriously have been what I said in the teaser – as a warning. “This is what we do to girls like this.” Plus of course to show off, to boast, to feel macho; for sadism-porn; etc.
Hey, people used to send postcards of lynchings. No lie. “Hi Auntie Jen, here I am lynching a nigger last Saturday, love, Billy.” The point I suppose is partly that they think they’re doing a fine thing.
Dang, Marie-Therese, don’t you have any sympathy for those poor tragic men who kicked and stoned their dear relative to death? Have you no heart?!
Bob,
If I misread you I apologise. But even at reputable sites such as RDF I’ve seen knee-jerk ‘typical muslims’ comments.
This is enough to make me want to tear my teeth out. I am still having a hard time believing people can be so cruel. I spend a fair amount of time wondering how humans can be so terrible to animals, but I really shouldn’t be surprised, considering how we treat our own kind.
Later recountings of the story – as in the Daily Mail – then stressed the religious element. I doubt we’ll ever get the truth, but I’d be interested to know if my initial take was the correct one and the religious element’s been grafted on to what was in reality another straightforward – though particularly brutal – honour killing.
If this killing did turn out to be motivated simply by the fact the girl had slept with a man, would that be any less of a religious element? (That question isn’t entirely rhetorical, by the way.)
But even at reputable sites such as RDF I’ve seen knee-jerk ‘typical muslims’ comments.
To say “typical Muslims” would indeed seem inappropriate, but the slightly more qualified “typical of the Muslim world” would, presumably, be less so.
Trouble is this sort of thing is becoming typicaly moslem because moderate moslems are remaining silent Ed
Just in case anyone has actually missed the point, the people involved in this were Yazidis, not moslems.
I’d never heard of the Yezedis prior to this – a pleasantly edifying introduction to a worthy and ancient belief system indeed.
The Wikipedia page on the Yezedis is interesting. The section on taboos sounds like a Pratchettesque satire (‘the prohibition of eating lettuce or wearing the color blue’!! – is the religion truly so crazy?) and the same section emphasizes the belief that ‘contact with non-Yazidis is … polluting’. Maybe this, rather than sexual intercourse per se, underlay the killing? Anyone know anything more about the faith?
Paul Beidler, see; Who’s Who in America, stayed for two years with the Yezedis to study them – from the inside out. He might have written about them in his biography. Could be worth checking!
I read;
Not much is known about the Yezedis as they accept no converts, and are very insular given the centuries of persecution they’ve endured.
They are monotheists, as they believe that one God (Yazdan) created the universe. But to them God is non-interventionist, and once he finished with creation he had nothing else to to with the world (in fact, quite a few religions suggest that it would be rather pointless of God to create a “high-maintenance” universe).
Yazdan left the day to day operations to seven angels, the chief amonst them was Malak Ta’us (the Peacock angel). And since God is disinterested, they direct prayers towards the chief angel.
As far as devil worship, I don’t think that they themselves would claim to do so. There’s a story of Malak Ta’us being removed from his position of authority due to the sin of pride (the fallen angel theme), but according to the Yezedis, he repented before God and was returned to his former grace and place. Unfortunately for the Yezedis, one of the many names of Malak Ta’us is “Shaytan” Which is the name of the devil in the Koran.
Given the name and the fallen angel theme, peolpe have assumed that the Yezedis worship “The Evil one”. This just simply isn’t the case.
By the way, I am In no way an expert on the Yezedi. The secretive nature of their society makes an authoritative statement on their beliefs next to impossible.
I have nothing to add Marie T.your last post but one says it all!
one post but one should have read; “hand-bash” as opposed to “reign”
Also, “must have been made a trifle easier”. Also, in finding/holding these….Gosh, will I ever learn at all, at all.
Unfortunately this is a perfect example of what happens when you practice divide and rule on religious/sectarian grounds. It drives the groups to become more insular and allows the voices of the intemperate to hold sway.
It’s shocking and awful, and the perpetrators should be brought to justice, but she’s as much a victim of the occupation of Iraq as anyone killed by a bomb attack on a market place or a squaddie killed by a roadside bomb.
“what happens when you practice divide and rule on religious/sectarian grounds.”
Communalism, in short; one of the worst ideas ever invented.
This is one reason the French and the Turks are not wrong to be so keen on secularism.
‘a victim of the occupation of Iraq ‘
I don’t follow your reasoning.
I thought that was fair comment O.B.
Sir Henry Wallop, whose maltreatment of his labourers gave rise to the English word “wallop”.
Lynching, which is a form of violence, usually murder, was conceived of by its perpetrators as extra judicial punishment for offenders or as a terrorist method of enforcing social domination.
Ironically, both of these violent words have an Irish connection!
Don – the occupying forces in Iraq have framed everything in sectarian/religious terms as a form of divide and rule. This drives the sects/religions to be more insular, emerging only to be violent towards one another. This also leads to the sects being more conservative and more intolerant of apostates. See the last 80 years of Northern Ireland’s history.
Prior to the invasion, Iraq, for all its very many faults and repressive regime, was essentially secular and people neither knew nor cared whether their neighbours were Sunni, Shia or anything else. That’s all changed now, probably forever, or at least for a few generations.
Yes, she may have been killed if she’d done the same thing 5 years ago, but I reckon that it’s less likely, and I certainly don’t think that the police would’ve stood by watching. That is what I meant when I said that this poor unfortunate young woman is a victim of the occupation of Iraq.
tom p, N Ireland is a good example of what you are saying, but by a similar token then, she’s victim of Saddam Hussein’s sectarianism. But we can’t prove this, and by making that assumption we introduce fuzzy logic. I prefer to see it as a gang of murderous halfwits observing blunt rules of a tribal brutality. That there may be a principle of conflict-induced anomie is a plausible description, but not a definitive fact. This sort of mysoginist barbarism occurs in areas of the globe over, (see Mexico’s missing women for example), and often coexists with religious fundamentalism, whether the society is militarily conflicted or not. Which, unless I have misunderstood things, is a reason why the story has been relayed on this site. The occupation of Iraq is reprehensible on most levels, I would agree, but each and all of the intrinsic ills of a people and their varying religions cannot be layed off on their latest ‘coloniser’, no matter how we may feel about them, your assertion, in the wrong hands, becomes an alibi.
“Woman in burqa horrified by woman in chador”
This was taken from the news section.
“It makes me sick to look at women like Raheela Asaad,” Salah said. “She deserved no less a punishment than death for her blasphemy”.
With a talibannish mentality such as this coming from a woman, what hope is there for change for women in geneal in their respective region.
It makes me even sicker, Salah!
But for the opposite reasons, Salah.
I should have put a warning notice on that piece – which was in Flashback, not News. I almost did, but lacked space. It’s from the Onion, which is a satirical pretend-news magazine in the US. In short, it was a joke! (But actually it’s so close to the reality that there’s not much space between joke and truth.)
Tom,
Thanks for elaborating, I think Nick has more or less expressed my thoughts on that. In principle you may well be right, but in this specific instance we don’t have the information to judge how far the occupation influenced matters.
Well, lordy, lordy fancy giving me all those flashbacks for nothing. I have never in my life bought “onion” crisps, but accidentally picked up a home made packet a half an hour ago from O’Briens health food sandwich shop in Grafton St. I was munching away at them when I logged into B&W and could not believe my eyes when I read what OB stated in above comment but one “I should have put a warning notice on that piece – which was in Flashback, not News. I almost did, but lacked space. It’s from the Onion”.
The “onion” brought tears to my eyes, and flashbacks to boot.
O.B. for the first time I dont think you have been fair to me I know I am probably paying for past sins but you deleted my first comment on Toms post so I wrote a completely inocuous second atempt that was much milder than Nicks take yet you deleted me again?
Well, it’s not entirely for nothing – the Onion’s joke really is pretty close to the reality. In fact it is the reality, it’s just some of the justification for it that’s absurd. The bit about the bridge of the nose for instance! But, clearly, some people really do think that even a chador is not ‘modest’ enough and only complete obliteration will do. Much of the (painful) humour of the piece comes from the very reality of it.
Onion crisps…I wish I had some…I’m hungry…(as usual).
Sorry I am not understanding?
Sorry, Richard, that was a cross-post (I didn’t know you had posted, I was answering Marie-Therese just above).
There were a lot of short off-topic posts from various people – not just you – and I got rid of several. Just clutter-reduction.
A warning notice should be put on those who force women to dress in such ridiculous fashion. I wonder how their men would react if the shoe was put on the other foot and women forced them to wear the same regalia.
Yeah, unfortunately, the Onion’s joke for sure is close to the real ghastly truth.
Have a crisp on me, OB, saved you some. Crunch, crunch.
No prob O.B. you are the editor and its your site ,I have been trying not to be trollish but because of typing skills ect I try and keep my posts short so sometimes they may seem a little trollish because I am trying to say a lot with the least pain to myself(and others)
Ah, I see, Richard. Well – I’ll try to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I might do some tidying now and then anyway.
I’m sure Jerry’s told you that he used to delete posts of mine by the truckload, when he ran a discussion board at TPM Online.
Do’a Khalil has been buried in a Yazidi graveyard in a village north of Mosul, but the struggle over the legacy of her death continues.
Taken from; News @ B&W
It is comforting in some small way to know that there will be a vigil in honour of Doaa on the 18th May 2007 in London.
I shall have to tell Jery to pull his socks up twice,how is the book comming by the way?
Here’s a short update on this awful story:
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick05082007.html