Warning NSFW Stoning of Kurdish Girl

[chrisinluv]

This might be old news, but I just came across it and I have not been this angry in a very long time.

Here is a link (http://www.aina.org/news/20070425181603.htm) to the article* and then the videos taken by cell phones. I wish I had not watched them because it made me absolutely sick to my stomach. I can't imagine a woman being tortured and killed in such a barbaric fashion.

Is this so common that we just don't hear about it? We see Larry Birkhead and Angelina Jolie all over the news, but we don't see stuff like this!

*By Kameel Ahmady, Mina Rojdar
Assyrian National News Agency

ETA one more link with another article
17-year-old girl stoned to death for loving boy of wrong religion (http://www.religionnewsblog.com/18148/despicable-animals)

[EuropeBride]

I didn't watch the video bacause I can't stomach watching violence, but I read the article and this is absolutely barbaric, abhorrent and condemnable.
Unbelievable that things like this are still being practiced in this day and age.

[MrsD108]

I have no words:(

[imagirliegirl]

The videos won't open for me, not that it's a horrible thing.

Poor girl. Crazy that these things happen in this time.

[kk junebug]

and people wonder why there'll never be peace in the middle east.

[Niobe]

It's ignorant, evil crap like this that makes it impossible for me to practice ANY organized religion.

[ysolde]

No one stopped this????

[thelittlebabu]

I'm shocked this happened in Kurdistan, the most westernized region (by far - and safest, too) in Iraq. I hope the local officials crack down on this 12th century barbarism.

[ysolde]

I wonder what humanity would have been like if womankind had been this paranoid; if we had decided that our honor rested on our men's keeping their penises from becoming erect. Would we sew our sons' penises to their testicular sacs at the age of four, and give their wives the scissors on the wedding night? In "traditional" cultures, how would we respond to our sons' staying out all night? To allegations that they were dating? To allegations that they were raped? Would we strip them naked in the town square and stone them to death?

And would we, in the "civilized" West, stand by and call such barbarities "cultural differences" if they were being perpetrated against boys and men?

[chrisinluv]

I just can't figure out WHY NOBODY helped that child! WHY is this OKAY to do to a young lady? Makes me want to scream and stomp my feet.

[mgrace]

So sad. That poor girl. It is so horrible that we never hear about stories like this, yet it happens so often.

[jnettie]

This is sadly very common. It infuriates me to no end.

I am reading a book by a woman named Ayaan Hirsi Ali called "Infidel". It's a memoir of her life. She was born in Somalia in a Muslim family and lived in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, before escaping an arranged marriage by seeking asylum in Holland. She talks about what it is like to be a woman in a strict, Muslim culture, even describing her own "circumcision" at the age of 6, a description which made me feel ill.

What amazed me in her book was just how absolutely ingrained these ideas are. Her own grandmother was probably the most adamant about preserving the family honor through her and her sister. The things they are taught to believe in school in order to keep women subservient is completely horrifying.

Of course no one stopped this girl from being stoned. They probably all believed that she deserved it.

[thelittlebabu]

This is sadly very common. It infuriates me to no end.

I am reading a book by a woman named Ayaan Hirsi Ali called "Infidel". It's a memoir of her life. She was born in Somalia in a Muslim family and lived in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, before escaping an arranged marriage by seeking asylum in Holland. She talks about what it is like to be a woman in a strict, Muslim culture, even describing her own "circumcision" at the age of 6, a description which made me feel ill.

What amazed me in her book was just how absolutely ingrained these ideas are. Her own grandmother was probably the most adamant about preserving the family honor through her and her sister. The things they are taught to believe in school in order to keep women subservient is completely horrifying.

Of course no one stopped this girl from being stoned. They probably all believed that she deserved it.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was elected to the Netherlands' parliament, but has since fled to the USA for asylum since she received death threats/fatwas there. If one of us non-muslims tells the truth about radical islam, we hear a general "Death to America, Death to The West". When an actual muslim tells the truth, she gets very personal and very real death threats. This is a major problem muslims need to resolve. If the majority of peaceful muslims can be intimidated into silence, the radical voice speaks for the entire religion.

[chrisinluv]

I'm still mad about the whole thing.

I believe that it is important to practice moral or cultural relativism when considering events that I don't understand. But didn't this girl deserve to expect some basic human rights like not being stoned to death?

This is definitely a change the world needs to make. It's something that moderate Muslims could really work on to make the world a better place for people of their own faith.

jnettie I've been wanting to get that book! Thanks for posting about it.

[Asha]

it sadly not uncommon in extreme muslim nations. in pakistan (supposedly one of our allies), the abuse of woman and the denial of their rights is appalling. we've had threads on similar topics before.

i know this is a small example and nothing compared to being stoned, but when i visited one of israel's holy sites under control of the islamic authorities i was ridiculed for my clothing. they shouted at us. followed us around. basically made us feel so humiliated that we had to leave the holy site. in fact, i was wearing conservative clothing compared to some of the other women visiting the same site. my dh and i figured it was because he looks like he could be muslim, and they expected a wife of a muslim to dress a certain way. it could have also been that i was the "most white" looking woman at the site as well. i can't imagine living somewhere where i am made to feel guilty about my body and feel like i am the source of sin for men's immoral thoughts and actions.

[sue-bert]

If one of us non-muslims tells the truth about radical islam, we hear a general "Death to America, Death to The West". When an actual muslim tells the truth, she gets very personal and very real death threats. This is a major problem muslims need to resolve. If the majority of peaceful muslims can be intimidated into silence, the radical voice speaks for the entire religion.
I don't disagree with what you wrote, but I would like to point out that according to the article, the girl was not Muslim. She was a member of the Yazidi religion, and was stoned by her fellow co-religionists for attempting to run away with her Muslim boyfriend and convert to Islam.

[thelittlebabu]

I don't disagree with what you wrote, but I would like to point out that according to the article, the girl was not Muslim. She was a member of the Yazidi religion, and was stoned by her fellow co-religionists for attempting to run away with her Muslim boyfriend and convert to Islam.
You're correct, although my comment was regarding Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I guess I went too far off topic with jnettie's post.

[chrisinluv]

Thanks for clarifying, sue-bert. I assumed that it was some sort of Islamic denomination.

Although, I don't think it would be denied that stoning is a form of punishment practiced upon women in many Islamic societies.

[jnettie]

I don't disagree with what you wrote, but I would like to point out that according to the article, the girl was not Muslim. She was a member of the Yazidi religion, and was stoned by her fellow co-religionists for attempting to run away with her Muslim boyfriend and convert to Islam.

Actually, this has some relevance. Most of the beliefs that women are inferior and "honor killings" stem from cultural practices outside of Islam, too. They are far older than Mohamed.

And chrisinluv, it is a very good book. I got it after hearing her speak on NPR and on the Bill Mahar show. I'm half way through...then I lost my copy!

[sue-bert]

Thanks for clarifying, sue-bert. I assumed that it was some sort of Islamic denomination.

I had to look it up -- apparently it is some sort of pre-Islamic religion native to that part of the world.

[Sophia]

Four people, including relatives of the girl, have been arrested for her death.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/18/iraq.honorkilling/index.html