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Attacks Against Women in
Iraq
Two young women were attacked last week
in the Iraqi city of Mosul for not wearing a head cover in a
local market.
Monday, Oct. 25, 2004 Posted: 12:27:57AM
EST
Two young women were attacked last week
in the Iraqi city of Mosul for not wearing a head cover in a
local market a news agency reported on Friday. The attack, during
which the women were sprayed with a syringe containing nitric
acid, took place amidst growing violence against women and Christians
in the war-torn nation.
In a recent article featured in Italy-based
AsiaNews, the agency reported that a flyer signed by a group
calling itself the Mujahideen Parliament had appeared at Mosul
University promising "death to all Iraqi women who did not
cover their heads." The group, which represents six separate
groups of Islamic extremists, also warned women against wearing
make-up and Western-style clothes. "We will follow transgressors
to their homes and shall not hesitate from striking you,"
the group stated in the flyer.
While Islamic extremists attacks have
not been limited to Christians alone, several sources have reported
specific threats and attacks directed towards the Christians,
who are accused of spreading "corruption and
shamelessness in the streets. They will "suffer violence
and persecution in their homes and their churches [if they do
not stop] cooperating with the infidel invader," one extremist
group had written in another flyer.
As threats continue to hit home, noticeable
fear and concern is present in the 100,000 strong Christian community
of Mosul despite its deep historical roots in the area and its
cultural and economic prominence.
Young Christian female students are
especially singled out, AsiaNews reported. According to the news
agency, a process of islamization of culture and social more
similar to that imposed by the Talibans in Afghanistan is underway,
and its main targets are university students. And as many Islamic
scholars say that according to hadith, a woman should cover her
whole body, except her face and hands, women who are seen without
"appropriate" covering become open targets.
After the most recent threats, local
churches responded initially by making arrangements for a bus
to shuttle to and from the university. However, after threats
were made against the buses in the last two weeks, students have
reportedly stopped going to class.
One student who attends Mosul University
told AsiaNews, "Christian students can no longer attend
classes and female students are humiliated by the inhumane behavior
of fundamentalists."
According to Father Joseph, a priest
in Mosul, the anti-Christian sentiments stem from the fact that
although Christians are just three percent of the population,
they represent around 40 percent of the professional class. And
by striking at them, "the terrorists are striking at the
country's culture and economy in order to weaken it and thus
more easily subjugate it," Joseph told AsiaNews.
The priest added, however, that even
though "violent acts against Christians are on the rise,
they do not constitute persecution or religious war." Armed
gangs account for the majority of violence.
"Two or three people with guns
can spread fear in a whole neighborhood," Joseph said.
Some of the gangs, made up of people
belonging to the so-called resistance, aim to punish the occupation
forces and its "collaborators." Others are Islamic
fundamentalists who want to impose their version of Islam. And
others are thugs and common criminals who were freed just before
the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Since the "liberation" of
Iraq by the United States and Britain, sources report that 110
Iraqi Christians have been killed.
Kenneth Chan
http://www.christianpost.com/dbase/missions/1180/section/1.htm
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