Honor Crimes in Iraqi Kurdistan
In the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, "honor crimes" take many forms "including 'honor killings,' forced marriage, coerced marriage to an alleged rapist, and unlawful confinement and tight restrictions on women's movements" (Begikhani 2005). These crimes are perpetrated against individuals, usually women, whose actions are viewed as dishonorable, including premarital sex, seeking divorce, suspicion of infidelity, and exercising freedom of choice in forming relationships. The ability to commit honor crimes against women is reinforced by the Iraqi Penal Code (Law No. III/1969) (IPC), which mitigates sentences for crimes committed with an honor motive. Because honor crimes are viewed as a corrective response to behavior that violates social norms, they are tolerated and considered a legal right within certain limits.
Beginning in 1992, Kurdish women called upon the Kurdish parliament to implement reforms against the provisions legitimizing honor killings in the Iraqi Personal Status Code and the Iraqi Penal Code. In response, the PUK and the KDP, the two governing bodies in Iraqi Kurdistan, both passed legal reforms against lenient and reduced punishments for crimes with the pretext of "honorable motivation" or "purifying shame." However, these reforms have proven to be very limited due to the ambiguous language used in the reforms and the Kurdish social structure. Because the main social and political organization in Kurdistan is the tribe (ashirat), there is a heavy reliance on komelayeti (a tribal structure run by elderly, religious, political and tribal representatives) for hearing disputes and passing judgments rather than the government's courts. Thus, the number of "honor killing" cases that reach the courts is very limited.
In 2007, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) reported an increase in the number of honor killings of Kurdish women and criticized the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) for its slow response to these acts of violence against women. In response to reports on the rise of gender-based violence in Kurdistan, Kurdistan Regional Government's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has vowed to take tougher measures against those guilty of honor killings.
The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) can take part in creating long-term systematic change around sexual violence-both in Iraq and throughout the region. The Iraqi Tribunal statute calls for special protection for victims of sexual assault, but it does not provide support services or protection for witnesses. Using the IHT to set a standard of openly addressing honor crimes would be a beginning to bringing this topic into the mainstream conversation and developing effective solutions.
Case Study: Pela (excerpted from "Iraq: Decades of Suffering, Now Women Deserve Better;" published by Amnesty International, 2005)
In one well-documented case, a court in Dohuk, northern Iraq, accepted the "honourable motivation" of men who had killed a young woman as grounds for leniency in sentencing. Pela, unmarried and living with her family in Sweden, was killed on 24 June 1999 on a visit to the family home in Dohuk. Breen, Pela's younger sister, heard a shot upstairs. Her uncle, Rezkar Atroshi, came out of the room holding a gun, and claimed that Pela had shot herself. Breen, initially made to leave the house, later managed to get back in. Running upstairs, she found her sister covered in blood but still alive. Pela said that her uncle had shot her. Her mother helped bring her downstairs to the living room. There she was shot in the head and killed by one of her uncles. On 9 October 1999 the Dohuk Criminal Court convicted Pela's father, Agid Atroshi, and her uncle Rezkar of the killing, but gave them each a suspended one-year prison sentence.
The court referred to a report from the autopsy that "the hymen was broken" and to the defendants' "honourable motivation" in support of its decision. The Court of Cassation reviewed the verdict and on 22 February 2000 ruled that the one-year sentence be served. In January 2000, Pela's uncles Rezkar and Dahasz Atroshi were arrested in Sweden. On 12 January 2001 the Stockholm City Court convicted both men of the murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The sentences were confirmed on appeal.
For more information, visit www.kwrw.org