According to Islam, no matter how much her father my try to rationalize
what
he did, this is murder, plain and simple. If he is executed for it, he
deserves it.
Hussin
"Tilly" <femail@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:g05td8$sml$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "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
>
> --
> femail1583@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
|
