Tuesday, November 27, 2007

What winning looks like

If you're an Iraqi woman, that is.

In Basra:
In Basra, Iraq, religious extremists are waging a violent campaign against women who do not dress or behave according to their interpretation of Islam and doctors who provide medical services to women.

"They kill women, leave a piece of paper on her or dress her in indecent clothes so as to justify their horrible crimes," said Basra police chief Maj. Gen. Abdul Jalil Khalaf. Militants murdered 42 women between July and September, the BBC reported Nov. 15.

Also, women's groups in Iraq are reporting a wave of attacks against male gynecologists, U.N. news agency IRIN reported Nov. 13. One medical group said at least 22 doctors received threatening letters and two doctors were killed last week as they left their clinics. Extremists argue that male doctors should not see women's reproductive organs.

And in the Kurdish provinces:

Ninety-seven women were burnt to death and 27 others killed in the three Kurdish provinces during the past four months, the human rights minister in the Iraqi Kurdistan region revealed.

More here.

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