No security for the women of Basra

(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

This is the kind of story I find it hard to comment on…its just too painful. From the Guardian we hear

Hitmen charge $100 a victim as Basra honour killings rise: Fathers and husbands who openly hire assassins on the streets of the city are going unpunished.

As we hear so much in the MSM about how things are improving in Iraq, I want to say, yeah right, compared to what?????

Authorities in the southern Iraqi city of Basra have admitted they are powerless to prevent ‘honour killings’ in the city following a 70 per cent increase in religious murders during the past year.

There has been no improvement in conviction rates for these killings. So far this year, 81 women in the city have been murdered for allegedly bringing shame on their families. Only five people have been convicted.

During 2007 the Basra security committee recorded 47 ‘honour killings’ and three convictions. One lawyer in the city described how police were actively protecting perpetrators and said that a woman in Basra could now be murdered by hired hitmen for as little as $100 (£65)…

Ali Azize Raja’a, an Iraqi prosecutor who has represented the victims of 32 ‘honour killings’ since 2004, said that, despite accumulating sufficient evidence to prove who was responsible in each murder, he had won only one case.

He said that the greatest issue was the decision by police to release suspects. Seven in 10 of those thought to be responsible for such a killing have left the city, with little attempt made to track them down…

Another Iraqi lawyer, who requested anonymity, said that some fathers had started to hire professional hitmen to carry out ‘honour killings’ which were then covered as ‘sectarian murders’. He said: ‘The life of these women isn’t higher than $100. You can find a killer standing in any coffee shop of Basra, discussing prices of a life as if he was buying a piece of meat.’

Mariam Ayub Sattar, an activist in Basra, said that any woman caught speaking to a man in public who was not her husband or a relative was considered a prostitute and punished. A fortnight ago three women were burned with acid while walking through a market in Basra after stopping to speak to a male friend, Sattar said.

Nine of the 12 voluntary organisations helping women in Basra have closed down since the US-led invasion.

I wonder if Laura Bush is ready to mobilize Americans about this outrage against women…yeah, not likely.