A 17-year-old girl has been stoned to death in Iraq because she, Du’a Khalil Aswad, loved a teenage boy of the wrong religion. There is actually a horrifying video of the stoning on the Internet. Aswad, a member of a minority Kurdish religious group called Yezidi, was condemned to death by other men in her family and hardline religious leaders because of her relationship with the Sunni Muslim boy.
The stoning happened last month, but only came to light yesterday with the release of the Internet video.
It is feared her death has already triggered a retaliatory attack. Last week 23 Yezidi workmen were forced off a bus travelling from Mosulto Bashika by a group of Sunni gunmen and summarily shot dead.
An Amnesty International spokesman in London said they receive frequent reports of honour crimes from Iraq – particularly in the predominantly Kurdish north.
Read the entire London Daily Mail article
Human Rights vs. Religious Beliefs….and we’re put in the position of trying to bring order to this chaos. The religious differences between the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis are profound – especially when the more fanatical groups start pushing for control. Some are suggesting that we’re are headed for a Yugoslavia-type solution – where we divide Iraq into three or more countries.
Even then, we will still see brutal killings over religious beliefs. Unfortunately, it’s probably happening more than we will ever know.