Du’a Khalil Aswad

I did not know this young girl, but her story and brutal death disturbed me so much I just felt that I had to post a memorial for her. She did not deserve the fate that she recieved. Please take a while to read the story and pray for her.

Lets hope justice is served, and that you did not die in vain. RIP Sweetheart xx

Du’a Khalil Aswad (دعاء خليل أسود)(1989 or 1990April 7, 2007) was a 17-year-old Iraqi Kurd of the Yazidi faith who was stoned to death in an honor killing.It is believed that she was killed around April 7, 2007, but the incident did not come to light until video of the stoning, apparently recorded on a mobile phone, appeared on the Internet.

Some reports say Aswad was murdered for having converted to Islam to marry an Iraqi Sunni Muslim boy.It is disputed whether or not she actually converted to Islam; some reports say the Sunni boyfriend has denied that she had.Other sources instead indicate that Aswad was killed in punishment for being absent from her home one night.

According to a reporter who interviewed Yazidi sources on site,

After Du'a's death, the international media widely repeated a claim made on a number of Islamic extremist websites that she had been killed because she converted to Islam, but local reports do not concur. Some people tell me she had run away with her Muslim boyfriend and they had been stopped at a checkpoint outside Mosul; others say she had been seen by her father and uncle just talking with the boy in public and, fearing her family's reaction, they had sought protection at the police station. Either way, the police handed Du'a into the custody of a local Yezidi sheikh.

—Freedom Lost by Mark Lattimer, The Guardian of London, December 13, 2007
Some news agencies reported that Aswad was being sheltered by a Yazidi tribal leader in Bashika in fear of her life until her family persuaded her that she had been forgiven and could return home.Other reports indicate that she was instead given asylum by a local Muslim Sheikh.It is not known whether the same members of her family that convinced her to return home were responsible for her death. It is not clear from the video whether she was ambushed while returning to her home, or if the mob stormed her home and dragged her into the street. Estimates of the number of attackers range from hundreds to one thousand to two thousand men.

The incident took place in Bashika, a town in Ninawa Governorate, and was filmed on mobile phones and widely distributed throughout the Internet.

Aswad was taken to the town square and was apparently stripped of her clothing down to her undergarments.Allegedly, this symbolized that she had dishonored her family and religion. During the stoning, which lasted approximately 30 minutes, Aswad can be seen in the video attempting to sit up and calling for help as the crowd taunts her and repeatedly throws a large chunk of rock or concrete on her head.A man can then be heard declaring "Kill her!" Finally, as she lay face down, an unidentified man steps up and throws what appears to be a concrete block to the back of her head.

After her death in the town square, Aswad's body was tied behind a car and dragged through the streets.She was buried with the remains of a dog, allegedly to demonstrate that she was worthless.Eventually, her body was "exhumed and sent to the Medico-Legal Institute in Mosul so that tests could be performed to see whether she had died a virgin."An autopsy revealed that she died of a fractured skull and spine.

It is believed Aswad's murder sparked a reprisal attack in Mosul, in which 23 Yazidis were killed.Both her murder and the reprisal were condemned by Amnesty International and by the Kurdistan Regional Government which asked the federal government to investigate.Authorities in northern Iraq have arrested four people in connection with the killing.

A protest of Aswad's killing in Arbil attracted hundreds of Kurds who called for an end to honor killings.

To make this story clearer, this poor girl was tricked into going to her Uncles house who had organised her murder.He either ambushed her or dragged her out of his house in a headlock where hundreds of men were waiting in the street to torture her, including members of her own family. She was stripped from the waist down and stoned to death. She was also kicked, punched and taunted by four members of her family, one believing to be her brother. She was then put to her death when a man smashed a large concrete stone over her head.This whole incident was recorded on mobiles whilst police and other onlookers just watched it happen, they didnt even bother to help her.

Why?

Because she fell in love with someone from a different religion.