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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (3396)	1/23/2003 4:46:18 PM
From: PROLIFE	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

Iraqi Women Condemn Atrocities Committed by Saddam Hussein Regime The terrible plight of Iraqi women under the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein was brought into sharp focus at a recent press conference by a group of independent Iraqi women. The group, based in the Washington, DC, area, held their press conference on Oct. 4 at the National Press Club before a packed audience of media, prominent Iraq-Americans, supporters and representatives of non-government organizations. The speakers, representing a broad geographic cross-section from various parts of Iraq (South, Central and Iraqi Kurdistan), reflected various ethnic and religious backgrounds. In a show of courage and open defiance against Saddam Hussein's regime, they detailed the atrocities committed against Iraqi women and their loved ones by Saddam and his henchmen. The speakers stressed the need for the international community to condemn Saddam's regime and its atrocities committed against humanity. Moderator Safia Taleb Al Souhail, Advocacy Director for Middle East and Islamic World at International Alliance for Justice, was joined by Hon. Zakia Ismail Hakki, the first woman judge in Iraq and founding member of the Iraqi-American Council; Hetau Ibrahim Ahmad, a prominent Kurdish activist; and Dr. Katrine Michael, an Iraqi Chaldean and a Christian who joined the Kurdish resistance. Safia Taleb Al Souhail described the 1994 assassination of her father Sheikh Taleb Al Souhail, eminent Iraqi leader and head of the Bani Tamim tribe, at the hands of Saddam Hussein's intelligence service, the Mukhabarat. Although the murderers confessed to the killing, the crime went unpunished. The perpetrators were released and sent back to Iraq by the Lebanese authorities as part of a diplomatic pact with Iraq. The Hon. Zakia Ismail Hakki detailed the atrocities committed against the Faylee Kurds, mostly males aged 16-28, detained unlawfully in Saddam's torture camps since 1980 as their families were deported to Iran. Judge Hakki appealed to the international community to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 688 regarding human rights for Iraqis and for worldwide support for the Iraqi people's efforts to topple Saddam Hussein's outlaw regime. She also called for the prosecution of Saddam Hussein and his key officers before an international tribunal for crimes committed against humanity. Hetau Ibrahim Ahmad, a prominent Kurdish activist, described her experiences as a lifelong displaced refugee fleeing from place to place. She described the systematic killings, oppression and displacement of the Kurds at the hands of Saddam Hussein-backed terroristic extremist groups. Dr. Katrine Michael, a 1988 victim of chemical weapons, was forced to flee to Turkey to escape the continuous chemical bombardment of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein. Since her arrival in 1997 in the United States, she has been a tireless champion for women's rights in Iraq. Conference organizers and their guests—Nidhal Muhi Shalal Aljuburi, Sabria Mahdi Naama and Peyman Halmat--shared personal accounts of Saddam Hussein's crimes against women: women's public beheadings, draggings through the streets, rapes by Saddam's security agents, kidnapping and mass executions, disappearances and other atrocities. Nidhal Muhi Shalal Aljuburi, a prominent member of the Iraqi Shi'a majority, described the almost total extinction of her Jibour tribe, including many of her close male relatives and their wives, by the Saddam regime. She described Saddam's systematic environmental destruction of the southern Iraq marshlands and the subsequent demise of the habitat and ancient culture of the marsh Arabs. Sabria Mahdi Naama described her family's escape from Iraq after the 1991 Iraqi people's uprising against Saddam. She called for increased involvement of Iraqi women in the Iraqi opposition to the Saddam regime. The conference concluded with a show of support by representatives from Iraqi and Americans groups, including the Iraqi-American Council, represented by Aziz Al-Taee. The conference panelists stated that they will intensify their efforts to mobilize Iraqi women worldwide to help the Iraqi people reclaim their country and political freedom. -30- The Iraqi American Council is a non-sectarian, non-ethnic, non-government organization working to promote democracy and human rights in Iraq, empower Iraqi-Americans to participate in mainstream American life and preserve their cultural heritage.