Can Religion Be Against Woman?

Do you think religion would help women or against them & their rights?

But, why religion would be against women’s rights?

Religion should be mercy & kindness, support & help women & those who believed in extremism religious & some of close-minded brutal barbaric people are against GOD’s message of humanity, the essential of humanity & mercy with women.

Women are human, equal to men & I want to ask this question to everyone, is there any measurements would let man be better than woman?

Is there any low for man allows him to be preferable more than woman?
Isn’t the time to change this theory about women?

Looking to our surroundings in east & especially in (Iraq) women are living in big prison, or big empty box.
Yes, empty box, it is truth, I have been asking many women this: after your work time, do you have any places to go or do you like to go somewhere but you can’t go?

All of them told me” where we can go? There are no places we can go & spend some time & have fun; we can’t go alone or with our girl friends to anywhere though if there are places”

At the end a woman who is 49 years old told me “do you believe that I can’t go alone to market or anywhere & should take my one of my sisters with me & I’m in this age???”

& she added “even if someone wanted to marry me I should take my brothers & sisters opinions & should they agreed then me???”...WOW!!! What can I say? & by the way, she is employee…

The interesting thing she said “If I can turn the time back, & go back to my youth time, I would have changed many things in me like, my decisions in my personal life but, it is too late now… too late!”

& she said with anger” we were under pressure of men’s controls (brothers) & till now we are at their mercy”

I couldn’t say something to comfort her, because obviously there was nothing to say, she is living that tragedy for years, she is a victim of culture, traditions & gossip environment not just her, many likes her are living same way.

I don’t want to be pessimistic, but this is our reality; this is facts & we can’t hid it to pretend everything is fine, no we aren’t fine, this is not fine at all, if we have better & enough education, open conversations about women issues, our women would have better life, responsible decisions about what they want, taking as models of successful nation throughout the world.

Love Marriage or Arrange Marriage?

How women want to marry?

Do you think arrange marriage work nowadays? Or we should do it like our parents, dead marriage in my opinion no love, no that flavor of longing, caring & doesn’t that seem is like a duty for both man & woman should do because that attractive does not exist; or love can be after marriage?

Do you think arrange marriage is good for each man & woman?

- Here in middle-east we are still working with that habit many families believed in this no matter what time we are living. But, there are some families believed in love story before marriage & woman has her rights to choose her husband, get know him well.

In west, they said “follow your heart”, but, here women can’t follow their hearts not because they don’t love but because they are controlled by family, culture, family’s reputation, conditions related to money & traditions it is like they are going to “war” not to have new happy life & then why family involved in this, Yes, they have their rights to say their opinions but, their daughter will get married, it is her life.

All This Sun and Very Little Fun.

Another day and I'm sitting here without anything to do. I'm searching for a good channel to watch but as usual, nothing really captures my interest. Sadly, television is the only entertainment women really have and nothing good is on.  It's 120 degrees outside and I'm thankful for the few hours of power a day we get so I feel cool (Baghdad only averaged 5 hours of power per household for the entire month of July.)  But our lives are so drab and boring, even monotonous.
All the luxuries of the west are missing in our democracy. The movie theaters, parks, swimming pools, malls, amusement parks, theaters-even sports stadium for matches or local competitions.  Those with money now leave Iraq for vacation, for shopping, for rest and recuperation.  But for those of us who are just middle-class, and especially the women, we are stuck here, bored out of our minds.  We are not living, we are merely existing.
Of course we can't have such diversions until we fix the infrastructure.  Fix the electricity, the water, the roads, the schools, even the government if such a thing is even possible. I couldn't agree more.
But even if by a miracle those things were fixed, and by another miracle theaters and malls were built, as a woman I still couldn't go there.  In the Muslim/Arab world, women should not go unescorted anywhere, not even with her sister or with a group of friends.  Her reputation will be questioned, people will whisper this or that, neighbors will watch and shake their heads and the rumors will spread, and all for what?  For a woman wanting to go catch a movie with her friends?  Really? 
Some call this tradition, call it our culture, handed down by generation to generation.  I call it cultural poison; it's about control, nothing more, and it limits women.  It has nothing to do with morals or honor.  It is the weakness of men and their need to control women because of that weakness.  It is jealousy and fear.  Men want to keep us in the house, to clean, cook, wash their clothes, to baby them and be their servants. Their property.  It's 2010 and this is still the life for a vast portion of women in the world.  Good God, I can't even walk down to the corner market for an ice cream.
so I flip the channels once again, wondering when this will change, and how.  I flip the channels and see these Western shows and marvel at these women going shopping, going to lunch together, disagreeing with their men and not being afraid of being hit or killed.  I watch these women enjoying their lives.  And I ask; when will it be our turn, us enslaved women in the Middle East?  And how do we make it so?

Can money change mentality?

Millions of dollars spending here in Iraq…where it goes? To unknown projects, unknown people, unknown NGO. Even if it goes to the right hands what has been done yet for women???NOTHING!

Same mentality, same ideological about women because in my opinion money can’t change mentality of people, core of culture, not just those kinds of violence that we know, but binding, curbing her rights.

Can she live in her own? Of course not.

Let me explain this point, I’m not encouraging her to take bad ways or path & I will never do that because I believe in this “freedom is not getting out from morals”, what I’m saying here, can culture let her live on her own self, alone, just like man??? We all know the answer; living her own life doesn’t mean that she will be a bad person or break her morals, It is about self-confident, give her “equality”, we are not slave, we are not property. Still we have distinction between man & woman in workplace, why we don’t have a woman as judge???

-Why we don’t have a prime minster from good women?

In my country (Iraq) women had possessed only marginal ability since 1991 & till now, from sanction time, that forced women to stay at home, because no prepared food at market, there were no bread at market! Our mothers were baking breads, doing tomato paste for food, No chocolates at market, we were making sweets from dates, No medicines for sick people, No good clothes even if there were, were very high price & women’s clothes is much expensive than men’s clothes, So life getting very hard on women shoulders (wives, mothers, sisters…)

Then 2003, changing entered our life our culture not that fast but, we noticed that, most women returned to the work & most them are teachers, Yes, it is good skip but as soon as clash with thick wall of our culture, it has been 7 years from fallen time, women got very little from their rights with new government & forcing lots of barriers in their way, why? Simply, most of open minded people (good mentality) of our people had gone outside Iraq, so who left, those who are coming from rural areas, who are uneducated, who are tribes & women in tribes never show up just staying at house & let me say close minded people according to women…

I can remember one man said “Why should woman go to work, she should stay at home, raising children, because she belongs there!” do you know who was? Saddam Hessian, the ex-president of Iraq. So, president of  Iraq talked about women in that way; instead of educating people that women is equal to men  & have rights just like men, What can we expected from ordinary people to think about women if president of Iraq thought about women like that???

Again, money can’t change all that…what is the solution then?

_ Solution is women should help themselves first, then we should raise our voice to our sisters in west countries ask for their supports we don’t need money we need links, trust links, exchanging programs, training centers & last but not least, media should take the role too to educate our people…

Naziha Dulaimi.

Who is Naziha Dulaimi ?

-She was an Iraqi woman, the first Iraqi woman who gained such a high position in Iraq during 1959  as Ministry of Municipalities, she was a head of Women's Rights Union & not only that she was the first woman in Arab world gained that higher position!!!

-So, in 50s Iraq was great more than than now, WHY?
- It shouldn't be different ?

Naziha Dulaimi & Abdl Kareem Qasim
& other politician people in 1959. 

-Women were taking a good role in our society or at least trying very hard to taking their roles & taking the chances, we were the first in Arab world, where we are now???

-Does governments have a huge effect on women's rights?

-Does religions play a big role in women's rights? but, weren't the same religions in Iraq at that time I mean in 50s, Muslims, Christian & other minority? By the way, Jews were there too!

The question is : Who is responsible of that bad changing? Iraqi governments? U.S & British governments?

Iraqi people? Civil organizations (NGO)?

Flash!

What men preferred working women or housewives, Or both?

How that has an impact on their relationship?

I can remember very well my grandma (dad’s mother, mom’s mother) were housewives, Well, I can tell they were perfect housewives but, their atmosphere was house; the only place & their general knowledge were limited of course but they were good housewives, everything is perfect at the house from small thing to big one, nothing late, caring about their husbands, food is on the time & they were raising lots of children like 6-8 child (it could be more than 8 numbers), of course we are talking about the early beginning of 20 century when the whole world was completely different than now in every field, but if you think about that time; life was simple, people weren’t worried about how to live, or should seek about jobs, should have money to survive, or from this or that & they were more closer to each other & inside families more commitment like husband & wife comparing to this time 2010. But, to be fare there weren’t means of communication at that time, in same time these things has both positive & negative sides, How? Positive, keep us update to the world, make friends from all over the world, has lots of benefit for our work, calling someone who is far away or another side from the world, offering tremendous facilitating around the world…but, in the other side, internet, cell phone,…ect. Separating us from our home environment, family or friend even we are connected with them by these means, but still sitting with your family, gathering with them in the evening or on the food table (only food can gathered families sometimes on one table!) & talking personally easy than writing emails-in my opinion- just speak out!

It’s like we have two different pictures with different people, yes it was very simple life, very old fashion “odd” one but has great morals, values & I think people were appreciated their life although there weren’t women’s rights but, men were good to their women, I wonder why while people were uncomplicated & you can feel they were natural & humble more than now, more than our people now, we are like machines & we are running in our lives to go up & up losing our sociality life, our family time.

Then again men now wants women working, to build her independence personality, to achieve her dreams & to be an ambitious woman so that she can always feel she is equal & has rights just like her man but most men like her as a housewife or taking that role when she is at house, preferring seeing her at house cooking, cleaning, raising children, giving her touches at house more than working even though they courage her to do that, but man is a man he wants her at home when he arrived, seeing her waiting him giving him a hold, smelling her cooking from outside house door, asking him about his day, children gathering on him & catching his legs, feeling happy because he is at home after a long day ( I think everyone like & want this picture, how does not? )

But, the question is how women balanced with their time & family’s or husband’s time, how the working woman balanced her personality happiness & her family’s happiness because going too much with your dreams can cost you something in same time you want to do something not just staying at home.

The key is how to do something from everything, it is not easy but, it’s worthy!

Freedom…Independence...Equality!

If boy hits his sister in front of his eye’s mom, how we can change that?
If father or brother beats (they will be nice if just beat her not kill her!) their daughter or sister for any reasons, how we can change that?
If they follow discrimination between boys & girls with grades (by the way we are smarter than male brain!) , how we can change that?
If they are putting us aside in the work for example,(but, Hello! We are multi-task!) how we can change that?
If they look to us with inferiority looking, how we can change that?
If they are stealing our right to choose our future, how we can change that?
If they prevent us from speaking out, how we can change that?

In my opinion changing started from home, from family because that’s the core of the societies & we should teaching human rights in our school, we should applying them in our real life, more education, spaces, activities, meetings, involving women in government, inspiring people how should treat women, how should protect women not fighting against women’s rights.

Without women, there is no nation!

Female police officers in Kandahar/Afghanistan.

e http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38072349/ns/world_news-washington_post/

Report from Washington Post.


"In this society, people don't see us with good eyes." That was Lt. Fatima; who is a police officer joined with her other colleagues at police office working with the government to safe their country from the terrorism & all kind of violence & I think, it is a good step to help their country & very important cause they need female officer to check women at the checkpoint; it is cultural & religious issue & not allow for men to do that, Well it is impossible at all.

Besides female officers can take information from women about terrorism and criminal activities better than men cause no barriers.

As the report said they are trying to have more numbers of women to involve in this field & trying to training them how to use weapon like handguns even though still limited to 5 women only but will courage others for training. Of course Taliban will not let them free like that, they threaten them by assassinated them if they continue working with the government & they did that to one female officers as 2008 as report said so, they should change their place from time to time so no one can recognize them, It is a big challenge but, nothing comes free there should be sacrifice in some way!

Inside Iraq.

I was thinking how it would be wonderful to just go in a picnic or just go outside "hanging out" with friends, going to some entertainment places, like theater, cinema, sport's clubs or gym. well, that it could be but not in Iraq, we don't have nothing like that here. nothing at all. we can't go outside alone cause it is dangerous, & I can't go outside alone, no friends, no fun, no parks, social parks that we can meet people or our families can enjoying  time seeing their kids playing, just enjoying the life like other people in the world, but, I can tell it is better than 2005,2006 & 2007, there is a reconstruction in some area in Iraq but going very slowly, Besides, we hear about projects here & there, Where are they on the land???

Why they don't offer jobs for women so they can sharing men to re-build a new Iraq???

They don't believe in women, then why should we believe in men???

Another Chance To Live.

This is a true story.

Grace: Hello K.

K.: Hello Grace, how are you? I haven’t seen you a long time ago?

Grace: Well, I’m stick in the house.

K.: Why you are stick in the house?

Grace: Well, I don’t feel that well to go outside.

- You didn’t hear about what happen to our house?

K.: No, what happen? Please, speak out clearly.

Grace: Well, I don’t know from where I should talk, but all can tell you a bombing car exploded near our house & that was before Christmas 12/13 & I was working on pc at that day & my mom was watching T.V. in the living room when the event happened, We were (me & mom) absolutely terrified till death, I can’t tell you how much we suffer at that time.

K.: Really?

Grace: Yes, really.

K.: OMG!! Thank GOD you are safe.

-Tell me what happened?

Grace: It was 4:20 pm & as I told you I was working on pc as always, Suddenly a horrible sound just in moments the good picture got bad picture, the sense of life was closed to sense of death, the flame of candle went out, room’s door hit my head, all the books in bookshelf dropped & thank GOD they didn’t dropped on my mom, were she was sitting. Every glasses broken every drapes torn, every dishes & cups shattered into thousands of pieces & you know it was winter we couldn’t see rugs from millions pieces of glasses on it Every things looked awful even the plants got hurt too, nothing was normal at all.

We are civil people & two women were inside that house lived that event; I couldn’t sleep for 10 days after that event & I was shaking with fear that it will happen over & over. I was afraid of that house I lived in years could be a house WITHOUT ADDRESS.

Iraq’s Beauty Queen

.Nations give to their women a precious place in their society not just give their rights but also, giving a value of their beauty, give her sense of her femininity; from that level you can measure that nation as a civilized nation, country because one reasons of nations development is relating with women & their rights & how they have an effective roles in societies.

-What about Iraq’s beautiful women now?

-Where they are? Or who hid them? Why we don’t hear about our beauty queen? Iraq’s Beauty Queen?

The interesting thing in this issue we had our beauty queen in 1947!!!!!!

Her name is Reneh Dankor.



- Can you believe it????

-Imagine Iraq before 60 years ago & enjoying with beauty.
-Imagine a country had time & mood to have a beauty queen at that time where life was simpled as they said.
YES, we had Iraq’s beauty queen at that time, someone will ask which is better situation for Iraq at 1947 or 2010 ????

If we are talking about traditions there were traditions too at that time!

If we are talking about political field, Iraq was under royal reign at that time!

If we are talking about culture we are better than 1947 we are more open minded to the world, we are in Technology period!

But, sadly we have a serious issues, Terrorism one of our hard issue smashing & destroying every sense of life, every sense of beauty. Besides there are strangers from outside, especially from neighborhood countries & they sell to us terrorism language which is strange & bad language by all means, it isn’t our language it isn’t language of living.

To be optimistic Iraq is better than 2005, 2006 & 2007 even we have dramatic days sometimes but in general it is better than 2005, 2006 & 2007.

-We have Iraq’s beauty queen in history, why it became a crime today in 2010???

So, who is responsible of not having Iraq’s beauty queen inside Iraq?

Iraqi Women’s League.

Our women after 2003 in Basra/Iraq.

“Despite the relative improvement in the security situation, our Iraqi people continue to live in an atmosphere of general chaos that is unprecedented for Iraq or other countries.

 Perhaps the most important manifestation of this chaos is the lawlessness, unbridled terrorism, insecurity and the spread of organized crime. This situation has claimed the lives of more than fifty women during the second half of this year, with the murders being carried out by extremist and reactionary forces and criminal gangs, under various social, religious and political motives and pretexts.

Iraqi women, who are subjected to various forms of discrimination, oppression and exploitation, and who face violence on a daily basis and through various means, are today facing mass killings because of the widespread terrorism targeting them. Most heinous murders are committed against them, in broad daylight with impunity. The killings of women in the city of Basra are but a terrible proof of the barbarism of their perpetrators and those who stand behind them.

Despite the condemnation of these crimes, the government and the relevant authorities have not taken the necessary measures against these crimes, to put an end to them and punish their perpetrators.

 We, in Iraqi Women s League, strongly condemn the crimes of killing women in Basra and other Iraqi towns, and denounce all forms of violations of human rights in Iraq, and call upon international organizations, the Iraqi Government and relevant authorities to:

1 - Send an international fact-finding mission to Iraq, to be organized by the UN High Commission for Human Rights with the participation of international human rights organizations, to investigate the crimes against women, help the Iraqi authorities to identify the perpetrators and work to stop these crimes.

2 - Reveal the criminals and those who stand behind them, and bring them to justice.

3 - Disclose the outcome of the investigations.

4 - Take measures to safeguard personal freedoms that are constitutionally guaranteed.

5 - Take deterrent measures to ensure the safety of citizens and protect their lives.

6 - Act firmly to improve the conditions of women and facilitate their involvement in the reconstruction process.


Iraqi Women s League / Co-ordinating Committee Abroad

3-1-2008”

http://www.ahewar.org/camp/i.asp?id=111

Brave Mother in Basra.

This is a story of brave woman in Basra/Iraq.

Article:

BRAVE MOTHER OF HONOR KILLING VICTIM GUNNED DOWN BY MUSLIMS

I am going to SCREAM! They killed this woman. Leila Hussein had the courage to leave the barbarian that STOMPED HER DAUGHTER TO DEATH for talking with a British soldier. The brutal killer, the father, was then allowed to walk free from the police station. Is this what we spent all our blood and treasure for? Where is feminist outrage? Where are the damn womens groups, the leftards, the commies, the socialists, all the full-of-shitniks? Why wasn't this women protected? She was being threatened daily.

 Five weeks ago Leila Hussein told The Observer the chilling story of how her husband had killed their 17-year-old daughter over her friendship with a British soldier in Basra. Now Leila, who had been in hiding, has been murdered - gunned down in cold blood. See the Observer story below for Islam's insatiable and depraved misogyny.

 

 

  The crime, so grotesque, is not the worst of it. After stomping to death, the father was released from custody, "'Not much can be done when we have an "honour killing" case. You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws". Read her story her.

Rand's Story :

The crime, so grotesque, is not the worst of it. After stomping to death, the father was released from custody, "'Not much can be done when we have an "honour killing" case. You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws".

This is not the exception, but the rule

Her crime was to fall in love. She paid with her life The Guardian hat tip Yisrael

Investigation by Afif Sarhan in Basra, Mark Townsend and Caroline Davies

How Rand met Paul & what happened after that?

The two had met while Rand, an English student at Basra University, was working as a volunteer helping displaced families and he was distributing water. Although their friendship appears to have involved just brief, snatched conversations over four months, Rand had confided her romantic feelings for Paul to her best friend, Zeinab, 19.

When Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, told her closest friend that she was in love from the moment she set eyes on the young British soldier working alongside her in Basra, and she dreamed of a future with him.

It was an innocent infatuation but five months after Rand, a student of English at Basra University, met Paul, a 22-year-old soldier posted to southern Iraq, she was dead. She was stamped on, suffocated and stabbed by her father. Several brutal knife wounds punctured her slender, bruised body - from her face to her feet. He had done it, he proclaimed to the neighbours who soon gathered round, to 'cleanse his honour'.

And as Rand was put into the ground, without ceremony, her uncles spat on her covered corpse because she had brought shame on the family. Her crime was the worst they could possibly imagine - she had fallen in love with a British soldier and dared to talk to him in public.

Rand was murdered last month. That the relationship was innocent was no defence. She had been seen conversing intimately with Paul. It was enough to condemn her, because he was British, a Christian, 'the invader', and the enemy. The two met while he was helping to deliver relief aid to displaced families in the city and she was working as a volunteer. They continued to meet through their relief work in the following months.

'But the thing she used to like talking about best was how he praised her beauty and her intelligence. She told me he called her "princess".said Zeinab (Zeinab is Rand's best friend ).


Despite knowing how dangerous the consequences of her actions could be, and the punishment she faced if caught, her passion for Paul grew stronger, said Zeinab. 'She never did anything more than talk to him. She was proud to be a virgin and had a dream to give herself to the man she loved only after her marriage. But she was seen as an animal,' said Zeinab



What the father & two brothers did with Rand?
Rand last saw Paul in January, two months before her death. It was only on 16 March that her father, Abdel-Qader Ali, learned of their friendship. He was told by a friend, who worked closely with police, that Rand had been seen with Paul at one of the places they both worked as volunteers. Enraged, he headed straight home to demand an explanation from his daughter.

'When he entered the house, his eyes were bloodshot and he was trembling,' said Rand's mother, Leila Hussein, tears streaming down her face as she recalled her daughter's murder. 'I got worried and tried to speak to him but he headed straight for our daughter's room and he started to yell at her.'

'He asked if it was true that she was having an affair with a British soldier. She started to cry. She was nervous and desperate. He got hold of her hair and started thumping her again and again.

'I screamed and called out for her two brothers so they could get their father away from her. But when he told them the reason, instead of saving her they helped him end her life,' she said.

She said Ali used his feet to press down hard on his own daughter's throat until she was suffocated. Then he called for a knife and began to cut at her body. All the time he was calling out that his honour was being cleansed.

'I just couldn't stand it. I fainted.' recalled Leila. 'I woke up in a blur later with dozens of neighbours at home and the local police.'

According to Leila, her husband was initially arrested. 'But he was released two hours later because it was an "honour killing". And, unfortunately, that is something to be proud of for any Iraqi man.'

At the police station where the father was held Sergeant Ali Jabbar told The Observer last week: 'Not much can be done when we have an "honour killing" case. You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws.

I thought we liberated Iraq. Read it all and weep.

'What they did to her was ugly and pathetic. Rand was just a young girl with romantic dreams. She always kept her religion close to her heart. She would never even hurt a petal on a rose.'

Last year 133 women were killed in Basra - 47 of them for so-called 'honour killings', according to the Basra Security Committee. Out of those 47 cases there have been only three convictions for murder.

Mother who defied the killers is gunned down Guardian UK hat tip Davida

Hussein lived her last few weeks in terror. Moving constantly from safe house to safe house, she dared to stay no longer than four days at each. It was the price she was forced to pay after denouncing and divorcing her husband - the man she witnessed suffocate, stamp on, then stab their young daughter Rand in a brutal 'honour' killing for which he has shown no remorse.

Why weren't the Americans protecting her? This is why we fought and died? To institute sharia?

Though she feared reprisals for speaking out, she really believed that she would soon be safe. Arrangements were well under way to smuggle her to the Jordanian capital, Amman. In fact, she was on her way to meet the person who would help her escape when a car drew up alongside her and two other women who were walking her to a taxi. Five bullets were fired: three of them hit Leila, 41. She died in hospital after futile attempts to save her.

Her death, on 17 May, is the shocking denouement to a tragedy which had its origins in an innocent friendship between her student daughter, Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, and a blond, 22-year-old British soldier known only as Paul.


She died, still a virgin, four months after she had last seen him when her father, Abdel-Qader Ali, 46, discovered that she had been seen talking 'to the enemy' in public. She had brought shame on his honour, was his defence, and he had to cleanse his family name. Despite openly admitting the murder, he has received no punishment.

Notice how the dhimmi media always points out that she was still a VIRGIN. So what? And if she wasn't then there might be cause. The status of the girl's vagina has no place in this story NONE.

It was two weeks after Rand's death on 16 March that a grief-stricken Leila, unable to bear living under the same roof as her husband, found the strength to leave him. She had been beaten and had had her arm broken. It was a courageous move. Few women in Iraq would contemplate such a step. Leila told The Observer in April: 'No man can accept being left by a woman in Iraq. But I would prefer to be killed than sleep in the same bed as a man who was able to do what he did to his own daughter.'

They didn't protect this woman who had been beaten and had her arm broken?

Her words were to prove prescient. Leila turned to the only place she could, a small organisation in Basra campaigning for the rights of women and against 'honour' killings. Almost immediately she began receiving threats - notes calling her a 'prostitute' and saying she deserved to die like her daughter.

Even her sons Hassan, 23, and Haydar, 21, whom she claimed aided their father in their sister's killing, disowned her. Meanwhile, her husband, a former government employee, escaped any charges, and even told The Observer that police had congratulated him on what he had done.

All of our blood and treasure, for this. Why didn't the Americans arrest him?

It is not known who killed Leila. All that is known is that she was staying at the house of 'Mariam', one of the women's rights campaigners, whose identity The Observer has agreed not to reveal. On the morning of 17 May, they were joined by another volunteer worker and set off to meet 'a contact' who was to help Leila travel to Amman, where she would be taken in by an Iraqi family.

'Leila was anxious, but she was also happy at having the chance to leave Iraq,' said Mariam. 'Since the death of her daughter, her own life was at serious risk. And this was a great opportunity for her to leave the country and to fight for Iraqi women's rights.

'She had not been able to sleep the night before. I stayed up talking to her about her plans after she arrived in Amman. I gave her some clothes to take with her and she was packing the only bag she had. She was too excited to sleep.'

Mariam said that when she awoke Leila had already prepared breakfast, cleaned her house and even baked a date cake as a thank-you for the help she had been given. After the arrival of 'Faisal', the volunteer (whose identity is also being protected), the three left the house at 10.30am and started walking to the end of the street to get a taxi. They had walked less than 50 metres when they heard a car drive up fast and then gunshots rang out. The attack, said by witnesses to have been carried out by three men, was over in minutes. Leila was hit by three bullets. Mariam was hit in her left arm and Faisal in her left leg. 'I didn't realise I had been shot for a few seconds, because as I heard the gunfire I saw Leila falling to the ground and saw blood pouring from her head,' said Mariam. 'I was so shocked, I didn't immediately feel the pain.'

Two men ran from their homes to help. They rushed Leila to hospital and a passing taxi took the other two. But Leila died at 3.20pm, despite several operations to save her. As she lay in her own hospital bed receiving treatment, Mariam said that she heard someone saying that Leila had been shot in the head. But there were other mutterings that were clearly audible. 'I could hear people talking on the corridors and the only thing that they had to say was that Leila was wrong for defending her daughter's mistakes and that her death was God's punishment.

'In that minute I just had complete hatred in my heart for those who had killed her.'

Police said the incident was a sectarian attack and that there was nothing to link Leila's death to her family.

Read that again. This is the same police that let the stomping murderer go. Do we need to believe anything they say?

'Her ex-husband was not in Basra when it happened. We found out he was visiting relatives in Nassiriya with his two sons,' said Hassan Alaa, a senior officer at the local police station in Basra. 'We believe the target was the women activists, rather than Mrs Hussein, and that she was unlucky to be in that place at that time.'

These men should rot in hell.

It is plausible. Campaigners for women's' rights are not acceptable to many sections of Iraqi society, especially in Basra where militias have partial control in some districts and impose strict laws on locals, including what clothing they should wear and what religious practice they should follow.

Dhimmi media happy to assist the jihad!

Since February 2006, two other activists from the same women's organisation have been killed in the city. One of them was reportedly raped before being shot. The other, the only man working for the non-governmental organisation (NGO), and a father of five who was responsible for the organisation's finances, was shot five months ago.

There could be many with a grudge against such organisations. However, Mariam believes Leila was targeted, pointing out she had been hit by three bullets. 'When we were shot, they focused on Leila, not us,' she said.

Since the attack the NGO has stopped its work in Basra. 'We daren't answer the phones because we have received so many threats since we gave our support to Leila's case,' said Mariam. 'Most of our members are preparing to leave the city and even Iraq if they can raise the money.'

 Iraq - the new democracy. Shining beacon of death.

A single mother since her husband was killed for refusing to join a militia, she too intends to move when she can. Faisal, who also survived her injuries, is still suffering post-surgical infection. She preferred not to speak, but her mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'My daughter is very shocked at what happened, and my two grandsons can't stop crying since they saw her in hospital.'

Leila's burial was arranged within hours of her death by the husband of one of her cousins and Mariam's father.

The Observer visited Rand's father and two brothers at their Basra home, but they refused to talk beyond Hassan proclaiming his father's innocence. When asked if he would be visiting his mother's grave, he shrugged: 'Maybe in the future.'

Leila was an orphan, raised by an uncle who died in the Shia uprising against Saddam Hussein in the early 1990s. Hamida Alaa, 68, a friend of the uncle, said: 'The poor woman was killed and now her name and history is buried with her. No one wants to speak about it. She is just one more woman killed in our country who has already been forgotten by the local society.'

In the last days of her life, Leila was suffering from the pressure of having gone against her husband. 'She was sleeping with the help of sedatives,' said Mariam. 'She would wake up at night with terrible nightmares, even dreaming of being suffocated as her daughter was. She had been threatened so many times and that's why she was so scared. Her indignation over Rand's death is what led her to her own coffin. Their history ends here. But Leila was a hero. A woman who was strong enough to say no to Iraqi men's bad attitudes. Sadly most Iraqi women do not have the same strength and they will stay in their homes.'

Leila is my hero.

Mariam has moved out of her home. But within hours of speaking to The Observer a close friend went to her new address to deliver a message that had been left for her at her front door. It read: 'Death to betrayers of Islam who don't deserve God's forgiveness. Speaking less you will live more.' She believes it was sent by Leila's killers.

'They want this story to be buried with Leila,' she said. 'But I cannot close my eyes to all this.'

You can read more about this story from this link:

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/06/mother-of-honor.html

Be Wise!

I would like to share this story to all women to be wise when they start any relationship whether that through internet or when you meet someone.

I know a story for a long time ago, which is a real story about a young woman got know a young man through the internet.



As a relationship between them she was happy that he will come & see her to which city she lived at, but they are in the same country, he promised her to come & see her & meet her family to engage her (they were ready to start a serious relationship to get married) & he send her a picture of his apartment & tell her he isn’t married.

Day after day she was waiting him to come & see her, but no answer from him and then she asked someone to go ask about him in his city.



After searching it shows that he was MARRIED & he has a CHILD & he was a manipulated cheater.



So, I thought to share this story with anyone who read it, to make sure about other side when you get involved in any relationship, try to ask as much as you can, get information about other side so you can avoid problems in the future then you will not blame yourself later & don’t just follow your heart & emotions, don’t absent your mind, Be wise!

From Dark Past to Bright Future!

In many times when we forced problems in our life, we usually fight at beginning then give up, But for Quiana Childress, she didn’t give up, her determined to help her family & get them out from bad situation at that time & never lose hope to get a job after school & she was only 16 years old, but she didn’t want to see her family falling apart.

She supported her family but, she wasn’t known that support will lead her to be a doctor..!



"Sometimes, I would go to bed hungry," Childress recalled. "My mother would try to portion out the food for each one of us. Sometimes, it wasn't enough."



With 16-year-old Quiana trained as a nursing assistant and went to work.



"I guess my mother felt like it was too much for her. The problems were too much," she recalled. "And I came home one day and the boxes were packed. And she came up to me and told me she was leaving and that I needed to find a place to stay."



At 16, Quiana was homeless, sleeping in her only possession -- an old, used Pontiac.



She added "It was a scary time. I couldn't really sleep," she said. "Eventually, I just learned to pray and close my eyes."

She took on a second job while she was still in school. Every day began by waking up at 3 a.m. to study.



"I didn't want to be a burden on anybody," she said. "I did not want to take advantage of any situation. I just wanted a roof over my head, be able to go to school, play basketball, and just live what I would consider a normal life."



I think there are many of Quiana in this world & many how want to be like her.

You can read more about it in this link:

www.abcnews.go.com/WN/person-week-quiana-childress-homeless-16-college-graduate/story?id=10652350

Story Of Martyr.

In anniversary of Neda Agha-Soltan.

On June 20/2009 in Iranian election protests, Neda Agha-Soltan breathed her last moments in this life.

She was killed during the 2009 Iranian election protests. Her death became iconic in the struggle of Iranian protesters against what they said was the fraudulent election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

She believed in democracy as she said “'I'm here, I also voted, and my vote wasn't counted”.



The story started on June 20, 2009, at around 6:30 p.m., Neda Agha-Soltan was sitting in her Peugeot 206 in traffic on Kargar Avenue in the city of Tehran.She was accompanied by her music teacher and close friend, Hamid Panahi, and two others, who remain unidentified. The four were on their way to participate in the protests against the outcome of the 2009 Iranian presidential election.The car's air conditioner was not working well, so she stopped her car some distance from the main protests and got out on foot to escape the heat. She was standing and observing the sporadic protests in the area when she was shot in the chest.

And the story continue: Hejazi ( Arash Hejazi is a doctor had been present during the incident) standing one meter away from her when she was shot, tried to staunch her wound with his hands. Hejazi said “At 19:05 June 20th Place: Kargar Ave. at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st. A young woman who was standing aside with her father (He wasn’t her father but her music teacher) watching the protests was shot by a Basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim’s chest, and she died in less than two minutes.

The protests were going on about one kilometer away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gas used among them, towards Salehi St. The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me” & he added “nearby members of the crowd pulled a man from his motorcycle while shouting: "We got him, we got him," disarmed him, obtained his identity card and identified him as a member of the Basij militia (government paramilitary). The militiaman, identified as Abbas Kargar Javid, was shouting, "I didn't want to kill her." The protesters let him go, but they kept the alleged killer's identity card and took many photographs of him. A recent documentary on the shooting contained a previously unseen clip of demonstrators capturing the militiaman seconds after the shooting.



Her last words were, "I'm burning, I'm burning!"



She died en route to Tehran's Shariati hospital & buried at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran.



Greetings to your soul, Greetings to your courageous & greeting to your humanity Neda Agha-Soltan.



Yesterday, there was Neda & tomorrow we will have like Neda in our counters!

Poisoning Girls At Schools In Afghanistan.

At least 13 girls have fallen ill after a suspected poisonous gas attack at a school in northern Afghanistan.

The government has accused fighters opposed to female education of being behind the attack.

This issue has touched my heart; how they can poisoning girls in their schools? they put some poisonous material in the back of the classroom.

If those people thinking they will kill their soul & ambition for education & learning they must be wrong.
Girls in their age were thirsty for learning, education & knowledge. I don’t know why they attack female? Cause they want to learn? What they are afraid off?

Despite how life is tough in Afghanistan but when you just think of these girls how they feel happy to get something new from their schools, how they fight to be in their schools in that difficult environment, it is the sense of life, sense to go forward, to achieve their dreams.

You can read more about it in this link:

http://www.english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/04/201042663711279658.html

Women’s Movement In Middle-East.

Women’s movement in middle-east during 6 years, has been increasing by calling for their rights over & over with their rights & women now feel they are responsible about themselves & about their lives but that movement is forcing many impediments , some are social structures, some are cultural traditions that inhibit women's development, domestic violence.



Women trying to fight for their rights, amid rising religious extremism or internal conflict.
There are many issues in her way to get her rights, But in the other hand she improved herself by giving her right to vote in 2005 in Kuwait, custodial mothers won recognition of their parental authority and proxy marriages were banned in Algeria but, these are few countries who accepted the change & it is still far away from a big change comparing with western counters; Despite the advances in literacy, educational attainment, political participation and economic role for women, but violence against women remains widespread throughout the Arab world.

So, what can be done to help the women of the Middle East?

Being one voice, helping each other, asking for International NGOs should continue the good work they've done to support civil society activities in the region, asking United State government & United Kingdom to help our eastern women by making a bridge of trust between their NGOs & our organizations that help women & that will not be done if WE don’t raise our voice if we don’t help each other if we don’t take our issues seriously, if we don’t fight.

The time is now & we should motivate each other to reach out our rights as part of human rights.

Fashion & Culture.

-What has been changed to our eastern women during 1970s till 2010?

  

-What was the ideology about our women at that time & who men in our counters looked to our women in 1970s & that style's of life?

 Does that related to mentality at that time? Or the corruption wasn’t appeared like nowadays? Or the challenges take other shapes in this century?

Dealing With Facts!

For a long time ago I was talking with a friend, she is a young woman about 32 years old & she has a sister & brother living with their mother, she is working a boring job.
I was asking her why you just go & live your life, choose your own?
She replied me: Who will take care of my mother? I refused to live my own life because I realized I will fight just myself cause no one listened to me so, I gave up on many things like to be creative or to go forward to study or to raise my abilities in any field.
I asked her: Why?
She said: Simply, no one courage me no one support me, you are living in culture that make you so limited, where should I go -as she said- go to where especially I’m a woman? How can I go forward without support without help?
Then she added: It is easy for man goes anywhere, whatever he wants, chooses his life, travels, do this do that, no one will judge him & tell him what are you doing?
Then I told her but that’s very bad situation, you will wait for someone to knock at your house door & tell you I want to marry you? Even if that what you are wanting but, nowadays that becomes an old idea an old tradition women & men now they are choosing the person who they want to be with, to live with, they want like a love story they want to know each other well before getting married & you are waiting for who?
Someone who may come or may not? & maybe you will agree about him or maybe not? Waiting for unknown thing?
Sadly, there was no other fact just that one “Waiting for unknown thing”
That issue is one of many women living like that way “waiting” or “pending” their life pending though they have abilities, skills, they have their dreams, their ambitions.

Then at the end of our speech she told me with few words: Easily, I retired from going forward to achieve my dreams or fighting culture or society, fight for this & that because it is useless & going in the same circle no one will listen to you.

The question is WHY SHOULD WE GIVE UP?
Is this what we want? I guess NO.
Is this because we are women? I guess NO.
Is this because we are less than men? I guess NO.

There are many young women living like that & when you are hearing about women rights & equality with men & a little bit of freedom you say “Oh, everything is okay then” but, that’s far away from our culture I can tell it will be the same even after 20-30 years from now if not more because these things has taken from generation after generation nothing change it, no new mentalities broken this wrong traditions like no new knowledge about how women should be treated by men & by culture; how we look to the woman as a human being not object, how we look to the woman as an individual person but till now we have this mentality about women should be at home, women should be housewives, women should not given their freedom cause they will go out of control, women should be beaten, women should be salve, women should be second after the man, women are just objects, women just for amusing.

We are in 2010 while the whole world advancing we are still living in 1800s. I wonder how women treated in the west or how she could take most of her rights while the west countries had been lived through first & second World War?


I will leave the answer to you.