It’s been over a year now since 17 year old Dua Aswad was stoned to death by men from her Yazidi village in Bashiqa,Iraq that disapproved of her relationship with a young Muslim boy. With over 1000 men cheering on her slaughter that lasted over 30 minutes, she was stripped, beaten, kicked, stoned and paraded through the streets and to this day no one has been arrested. This murder was videotaped by several men with their cell phones and then uploaded to the internet to show the world what a great job their fellow tribesmen had done in protecting their honor. Unfortunately for these murderers, the videotape backfired as the world reacted with horror and disgust at this act with thousands demanding justice for this young girl, petitions were set up, about 16,000 signatures on one alone demanding that the Kurdistan government arrest those responsible but to this day no one has been arrested, not even the two policemen that stood by with arms folded, smiling, watching this event making no attempt to help Dua, they were not even reprimanded.

I was one of the thousands of people that watched this video, I remember watching Dua some how forcing her battered body to a sitting position, her arm reaching out begging for help only to be kicked in the chest, slamming her back down to the ground. I remember her trying to cover her nakedness, I remember the blood streaming from her face, I remember sobbing uncontrollably, losing my breath with each violent kick that slammed her body back down over and over. I remember that not one person made an attempt to help this young, defenseless girl, yes, I remember…. Being a mother myself, my heart broke, I felt so helpless watching this young girl be murdered before my eyes and I could not help her at all. I felt like I’d let her down, I should have been there for her, I went to sleep every night for weeks unable to close my eyes without seeing her writher in pain over and over. I wanted so badly to help her, to hold her, to protect her from these evil men. I wanted to let Dua know that I cared, I would have helped if I’d been there, I wanted her to know that she was not alone any more, that there are thousands of people around the world feeling as I do, wanting to have those that murdered her as well as all those that stood by watching – all should be arrested and put to death. No one has the right to do what they did. She did nothing wrong, she was an innocent 17 year old girl attempting to find happiness as she so deserved, all young girls have that right, everyone has that right, no one had the right to take this from her.

As the months have gone by I have found myself reading more and more horror stories that these girls are going through under the guise of “honor killings” – brothers, fathers, uncles, strangers, murdering these young girls/women for any reason, talking to a stranger, not wearing a head scarf, refusing to marry someone three times their age, refusing to be sold or exchanged because of a debt owed, or just because they were no longer wanted, These girls are raped and then murdered because their rape has brought shame to the family. These girls are burnt alive, stoned to death, hung, shot, had acid thrown in their face and worse. What has been done? Little or nothing and it happens over and over.

I live in the US, I’m an American, I’m a mother and I care. I write articles to my local newspaper informing people of what is going on out there, I sign petition after petition, I set up websites on Facebook and MySpace, I try. I often wonder does Dua know I’m doing this for her? Does Dua know thousands of us around the world love her, want to right the wrong that was done to her. Does Dua know? She does.

Last year, two months after Dua’s stoning that occurred on April 7, 2007, Houzan Mahmoud Representative Abroad for the Organization Of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), arranged to have a ceremony held in Dua’s honor and in admiration of Doa’s love 17 Red Roses were cast into the River Thames on June 2nd. I wanted so much to be there, obviously I couldn’t because of the distance but I kept thinking about it wanting to somehow be a part of this event, I wanted to honor Dua, I wanted to toss a rose for her. As I paused in my yard that day to reflect on Dua, to say a prayer for her, to tell her how sorry I was that this had happened, I looked in my flower garden and there among all my red poppies stood one beautiful white poppy, there had never been a white poppy in my garden before, I’ve had that garden for years, I’d never even seen a white poppy. Looking at that poppy I knew it was a sign, it was a beautiful, proud and innocent flower among the rest, it stood alone, not afraid and I named this poppy my “Dua Poppy”. I never forgot that day, it helped me immensely get over the guilt of not being with the others at the River Thames. This year as my red poppies started to bloom I again watched for the white poppy but it never bloomed. I had a reunion planned and had to leave for Ohio on June 7th, I went out several times a day to see if my white poppy had returned but it had not. On June 7th I got up early and was loading my car, I walked one last time to the garden and there it was, my white poppy, standing all alone, beautiful, proud and pure among all the red ones. I know in my heart that this is a sign – this is Dua’s way of telling me she knows, she knows we all care, we have not forgotten her, we will continue to fight for her justice, yes, Dua knows…….

Judy Landess
6/20/08

Wikipedia: red poppy – death
white poppy – peace

15085. Marijo Gillis A grave and truly sorrowful demonstration of the devolution of humanity in an area of the world beset by brutality and violence. REST IN PEACE innocent girl, in the loving arms of the Creator! WAG ON THE WORLD

Marijo
WAG ON THE WORLD
http://www.wagny.org and http://www.wagny.net

Rest In Peace DU’A
Tina

You are beautiful!

Marijo Gillis
WAG ON THE WORLD
“a commentary”