The problem is Islam. No one would kill a Hindu or Jewish girl
or Xtian for talking to a Muslim , but in Islam its a free for all on
women , infidels.
excerpt
observer.co.uk
'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'Two weeks ago, The
Observer revealed how 17-year-old student Rand Abdel-Qader was beaten
to death by her father after becoming infatuated with a British
soldier in Basra. In this remarkable interview, Abdel-Qader Ali
explains why he is unrepentant - and how police backed his actions.
Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand
Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British
solider in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant. Sitting in the
front garden of his well-kept home in the city's Al-Fursi district, he
remains a free man, despite having stamped on, suffocated and then
stabbed his student daughter to death.
Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested but
released after two hours. Astonishingly, he said, police congratulated
him on what he had done. 'They are men and know what honour is,' he
said.
Rand, who was studying English at Basra University, was deemed to have
brought shame on her family after becoming infatuated with a British
soldier, 22, known only as Paul.
She died a virgin, according to her closest friend Zeinab. Indeed, her
'relationship' with Paul, which began when she worked as a volunteer
helping displaced families and he was distributing water, appears to
have consisted of snatched conversations over less than four months.
But the young, impressionable Rand fell in love with him, confiding
her feelings and daydreams to Zeinab, 19.
It was her first youthful infatuation and it would be her last. She
died on 16 March after her father discovered she had been seen in
public talking to Paul, considered to be the enemy, the invader and a
Christian. Though her horrified mother, Leila Hussein, called Rand's
two brothers, Hassan, 23, and Haydar, 21, to restrain Abdel-Qader as
he choked her with his foot on her throat, they joined in. Her
shrouded corpse was then tossed into a makeshift grave without
ceremony as her uncles spat on it in disgust.
'Death was the least she deserved,' said Abdel-Qader. 'I don't regret
it. I had the support of all my friends who are fathers, like me, and
know what she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his
religion,' he said.
Sitting on a chair by his front door and surrounded by the gerberas
and white daisies he had planted in the family garden, Abel-Qader
attempted to justify his actions.
'I don't have a daughter now, and I prefer to say that I never had
one. That girl humiliated me in front of my family and friends.
Speaking with a foreign solider, she lost what is the most precious
thing for any woman. 'People from western countries might be shocked,
but our girls are not like their daughters that can sleep with any man
they want and sometimes even get pregnant without marrying. Our girls
should respect their religion, their family and their bodies.
'I have only two boys from now on. That girl was a mistake in my life.
I know God is blessing me for what I did,' he said, his voice swelling
with pride. 'My sons are by my side, and they were men enough to help
me finish the life of someone who just brought shame to ours.'
Abdel-Qader, a Shia, says he was released from the police station
'because everyone knows that honour killings sometimes are impossible
not to commit'. Chillingly, he said: 'The officers were by my side
during all the time I was there, congratulating me on what I had
done.' It's a statement that, if true, provides an insight into how
vast the gulf remains between cultures in Iraq and between the Basra
police the British army that trains them.
Sources have indicated that Abdel-Qader, who works in the health
department, has been asked to leave because of the bad publicity, yet
he will continue to draw a salary.
And it has been alleged by one senior unnamed official in the Basra
governorate that he has received financial support by a local
politician to enable him to 'disappear' to Jordan for a few weeks,
'until the story has been forgotten' - the usual practice in the
30-plus cases of 'honour' killings that have been registered since
January alone.
Such treatment seems common in Basra, where militias have partial
control, especially in the districts on the outskirts where
Abdel-Qader lives.
While government security forces and British troops have control over
the centre, around the fringes militants can still be seen everywhere
on the streets or at the checkpoints they have erected. And they have
imposed strict laws of behaviour for all the local people, including
what clothing should be worn and what religious practices should be
observed. There are reports of men having their hands cut off for
looting and women being killed for prostitution.
Homosexuality is punishable by death, a sentence Abdel-Qader approves
of with a passion. 'I have alerted my two sons. They will have the
same end [as Rand] if they become contaminated with any gay
relationship. These crimes deserve death - death in the name of God,'
he said.
He said his daughter's 'bad genes were passed on from her mother'.
Rand's mother, 41, remains in hiding after divorcing her husband in
the immediate aftermath of the killing, living in fear of retribution
from his family. She also still bears the scars of the severe beating
he inflicted on her, breaking her arm in the process, when she told
him she was going. 'They cannot accept me leaving him. When I first
left I went to a cousin's home, but every day they were delivering
notes to my door saying I was a prostitute and deserved the same death
as Rand,' she said.
'She was killed by animals. Every night when go to bed I remember the
face of Rand calling for help while her father and brothers ended her
life,' she said, tears streaming down her face.
She was nervous, clearly terrified of being found, and her eyes
constantly turned towards the window as she spoke. 'Rand told me about
the soldier, but she swore it was just a friendship.
'She said she spoke with him because she was the only English speaker.
I raised her in a religious manner and she never went out alone until
she joined the university and then later when she was doing aid work.
'Even now, I cannot believe my ex-husband was able to kill our
daughter. He wasn't a bad person. During our 24 years of marriage, he
was never aggressive. But on that day, he was a different person.'
The mother is now trying to raise enough money to escape abroad. 'I
miss my two boys,' she said. 'But they have sent a message saying that
I am wrong for defending Rand and that I should go back home and live
like a blessed Muslim woman,' said Leila, who is now volunteering with
a local organisation campaigning for better protection for women in
Basra.
One of those running the organisation, who did not want to be
identified, said that Rand's case was similar to so many reported in
Basra, with the only difference being she was in love with a
foreigner, rather than an Iraqi.
'There isn't too much to say. Rand is dead. It is a tragedy and will
be a tragedy for many other families in Iraq in the days to come.
'According to information we have been given, some from Rand's
colleague, we have doubts that her love was reciprocated. We have the
impression that Rand was in love, but the English soldier wasn't. But,
for a girl to be paid nice compliments about her beauty and her
intelligence, it was enough for her to think she was in love.
'She isn't here any more for her mother to ask any of the questions
she would like to. Rand's case had repercussions because she fell in
love with a foreigner. But what about the other girls murdered through
"honour" killings because they fell in love with some of a different
sect, or lost their virginity, or were forced to become prostitutes?'
Rand's mother used to call her 'Rose'. 'That was my nickname for her
because when she was born she was so beautiful,' she said.
'Now, my lovely Rose is in her grave. But, God will make her father
pay, either in this world ... or in the world after.'
|
