"My daughter deserved to die "
Abdel-Qader Ali explains why he is unrepentant - and how police backed his
actions. Afif Sarhan in Basra and Caroline Davies re****t
For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his
daughter at birth. 'If I had realised then what she would become, I would
have killed her the instant her mother delivered her,' he said with no
trace
of remorse.
Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand
Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British
solider
in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant. Sitting in the front
garden
of his well-kept home in the city's Al-Fursi district, he remains a free
man, despite having stamped on, suffocated and then stabbed his student
daughter to death.
Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested but
released
after two hours. Astoni****ngly, he said, police congratulated him on what
he
had done. 'They are men and know what honour is,' he said.
Rand, who was studying English at Basra University, was deemed to have
brought shame on her family after becoming infatuated with a British
soldier, 22, known only as Paul.
She died a virgin, according to her closest friend Zeinab. Indeed, her
'relation****p' with Paul, which began when she worked as a volunteer
helping
displaced families and he was distributing water, appears to have
consisted
of snatched conversations over less than four months. But the young,
impressionable Rand fell in love with him, confiding her feelings and
daydreams to Zeinab, 19.
It was her first youthful infatuation and it would be her last. She died
on
16 March after her father discovered she had been seen in public talking
to
Paul, considered to be the enemy, the invader and a Christian. Though her
horrified mother, Leila Hussein, called Rand's two brothers, Hassan, 23,
and
Haydar, 21, to restrain Abdel-Qader as he choked her with his foot on her
throat, they joined in. Her shrouded corpse was then tossed into a
make****ft
grave without ceremony as her uncles spat on it in disgust.
'Death was the least she deserved,' said Abdel-Qader. 'I don't regret it.
I
had the sup****t of all my friends who are fathers, like me, and know what
she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his religion,' he
said.
Sitting on a chair by his front door and surrounded by the gerberas and
white daisies he had planted in the family garden, Abel-Qader attempted to
justify his actions.
'I don't have a daughter now, and I prefer to say that I never had one.
That
girl humiliated me in front of my family and friends. Speaking with a
foreign solider, she lost what is the most precious thing for any woman.
'People from western countries might be shocked, but our girls are not
like
their daughters that can sleep with any man they want and sometimes even
get
pregnant without marrying. Our girls should respect their religion, their
family and their bodies.
'I have only two boys from now on. That girl was a mistake in my life. I
know God is blessing me for what I did,' he said, his voice swelling with
pride. 'My sons are by my side, and they were men enough to help me finish
the life of someone who just brought shame to ours.'
Abdel-Qader, a ****a, says he was released from the police station 'because
everyone knows that honour killings sometimes are impossible not to
commit'.
Chillingly, he said: 'The officers were by my side during all the time I
was
there, congratulating me on what I had done.' It's a statement that, if
true, provides an insight into how vast the gulf remains between cultures
in
Iraq and between the Basra police the British army that trains them.
Sources have indicated that Abdel-Qader, who works in the health
department,
has been asked to leave because of the bad publicity, yet he will continue
to draw a salary.
And it has been alleged by one senior unnamed official in the Basra
governorate that he has received financial sup****t by a local politician
to
enable him to 'disappear' to Jordan for a few weeks, 'until the story has
been forgotten' - the usual practice in the 30-plus cases of 'honour'
killings that have been registered since January alone.
Such treatment seems common in Basra, where militias have partial control,
especially in the districts on the outskirts where Abdel-Qader lives.
While government security forces and British troops have control over the
centre, around the fringes militants can still be seen everywhere on the
streets or at the checkpoints they have erected. And they have imposed
strict laws of behaviour for all the local people, including what clothing
should be worn and what religious practices should be observed. There are
re****ts of men having their hands cut off for looting and women being
killed
for prostitution.
Homo***uality is punishable by death, a sentence Abdel-Qader approves of
with a passion. 'I have alerted my two sons. They will have the same end
[as
Rand] if they become contaminated with any gay relation****p. These crimes
deserve death - death in the name of God,' he said.
He said his daughter's 'bad genes were passed on from her mother'. Rand's
mother, 41, remains in hiding after divorcing her husband in the immediate
aftermath of the killing, living in fear of retribution from his family.
She
also still bears the scars of the severe beating he inflicted on her,
breaking her arm in the process, when she told him she was going. 'They
cannot accept me leaving him. When I first left I went to a cousin's home,
but every day they were delivering notes to my door saying I was a
prostitute and deserved the same death as Rand,' she said.
'She was killed by animals. Every night when go to bed I remember the face
of Rand calling for help while her father and brothers ended her life,'
she
said, tears streaming down her face.
She was nervous, clearly terrified of being found, and her eyes constantly
turned towards the window as she spoke. 'Rand told me about the soldier,
but
she swore it was just a friend****p.
'She said she spoke with him because she was the only English speaker. I
raised her in a religious manner and she never went out alone until she
joined the university and then later when she was doing aid work.
'Even now, I cannot believe my ex-husband was able to kill our daughter.
He
wasn't a bad person. During our 24 years of marriage, he was never
aggressive. But on that day, he was a different person.'
The mother is now trying to raise enough money to escape abroad. 'I miss
my
two boys,' she said. 'But they have sent a message saying that I am wrong
for defending Rand and that I should go back home and live like a blessed
Muslim woman,' said Leila, who is now volunteering with a local
organisation
campaigning for better protection for women in Basra.
One of those running the organisation, who did not want to be identified,
said that Rand's case was similar to so many re****ted in Basra, with the
only difference being she was in love with a foreigner, rather than an
Iraqi.
'There isn't too much to say. Rand is dead. It is a tragedy and will be a
tragedy for many other families in Iraq in the days to come.
'According to information we have been given, some from Rand's colleague,
we
have doubts that her love was reciprocated. We have the impression that
Rand
was in love, but the English soldier wasn't. But, for a girl to be paid
nice
compliments about her beauty and her intelligence, it was enough for her
to
think she was in love.
'She isn't here any more for her mother to ask any of the questions she
would like to. Rand's case had repercussions because she fell in love with
a
foreigner. But what about the other girls murdered through "honour"
killings
because they fell in love with some of a different sect, or lost their
virginity, or were forced to become prostitutes?'
Rand's mother used to call her 'Rose'. 'That was my nickname for her
because
when she was born she was so beautiful,' she said.
'Now, my lovely Rose is in her grave. But, God will make her father pay,
either in this world ... or in the world after.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/11/iraq.humanrights
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