Update on actions to stop the execution of three Iraqi women
Statement by Hana Albayaty, Ian Douglas, Abdul Ilah Albayaty, Iman Saadoon, Dirk Adriaensens and Ayse Berktay (1 March 2007)
On 14 February we launched an appeal to halt the summary execution of three Iraqi women. Hundreds signed our statement, including numerous organizations, and demonstrations have taken place in Istanbul, Ankara, Rabat, Berlin and Stockholm, among other cities.
Wassan Talib (31), Zainab Fadhil (25) and Liqa Omar Muhammad (26) were reportedly sentenced to death on charges that amount to supporting the legitimate and legal popular resistance to occupation in Iraq.
We issue this statement now to highlight that the situation in Iraq inaugurated and sustained by a defeated occupation and its local sectarian puppet forces makes the defence of human rights practically impossible.
In Baghdad in particular, some individuals that we are regularly in contact with, and others that were contacted for this specific case, report facing the same situation, one so volatile that they cannot even verify the whereabouts or wellbeing of their own families. Unable to move, or else fleeing for their lives en masse amidst the murderous Bush-Maliki “surge”, Iraqis are enduring waves of military repression and violence.
We tried to reach the families of the three women and their lawyer. We tried to verify their convictions, the charges on which they were convicted, and their wellbeing or status. We tried to verify the date of their prospective executions, and ascertain if an appeals process is underway. Until now, despite efforts along numerous channels (including contacting legal organizations in Iraq directly, along with human rights practitioners), no information has been forthcoming from within or outside Iraq.
We continue to work on the assumption that our information is credible: that the women may be executed as early as Saturday, 3 March 2007. We ask people of conscience everywhere to continue their mobilization and bring pressure on detaining authorities – both the Iraqi government and the occupation- to release information on the three women and free them. We call for similar pressure to be placed on human rights actors to intervene.
Summary executions and arbitrary detention are high crimes under international law for which the occupation must be held accountable. We should intensify our protests and support all actions against this occupation in order to be millions in the street by 20 March 2007. It is our moral duty to end this crime now!
Hana Albayaty
Ian Douglas
Abdul Ilah Albayaty
Iman Saadoon
Dirk Adriaensens
Ayse Berktay
