Kurdish young girl's killer releases video,

[Piling]

June 8, 2014

ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',— Sleman Zyad Yunis, the husband of the murdered minor Kurdish girl, Dunya, admitted on Sunday that he did commit his act to defend his honor, calling in a video tape the parliament of Kurdistan Region to protect him.

Younis is still in the mid of his forties and still hiding since the accident.

On May 23 in Kalakji, a district of Duhok city, Sleman Zyad Yunis, the 45-year-old husband, killed Dunya, a 15-year old child-bride, in a brutal way. He cut off his wife's breasts, gouged her eyes, shot her nine times.

The murder of the 15-year-old woman has became a public opinion issue in Kurdistan region, where activists and civil society have organized protests over the past few days to condemn her death and claim her right and punish her husband.

Younis said in his video in Arabic with a Quran in front of him “I call on every honorable person in the Kurdistan Region, all human rights organizations, all tribal leaders and all those who promote honor to defend me, because what I have done is a religious responsibility and is not against God or the Islamic law,”.

President of the Human Rights Committee in Kurdistan Parliament wrote in his own social networking site (Facebook), that the so-called Suleiman Diab Younis, Dunya’s husband and accused of killing her had sent the clip to Parliament explaining the reasons for killing his wife of 15-year-old.

Omar added that the defendant points out in his speech that killing his wife was to defend his honor, pointing out that he saw (A,Sh) in his wife's room.

Omar said that video will be considered as an important evidence and acknowledgment of killing Dunya, stressing that the Human Rights Commission will hand over evidence to the police and the courts to be included in the case file.

Reports have indicated that the killer has six children from his first wife who is living with him in the same house, while the victim's mother explained in a press statement that the social problems were plaguing the life of her daughter and that she had recently asked for a divorce but her husband refused to do so strongly.

She explained that her daughter contacted them a few hours before her death and asked to talk to her father, but the connection was lost, and a few hours later, we received the news of her death.

The authorities of Kurdistan region announced days ago the arrest of the cleric who is accepted to conclude the marriage contract with one of the witnesses by Dumez police station while father of the killer with his four sons have turned themselves to the local police on the background of the crime.

So-called “honor killings” are a common feature in traditional Iraqi Kurdistan, where women who are deemed to have dishonored the family by associating with men who are not immediate relatives are killed by a relative.

Every year, there are dozens of such cases, with victims often set on fire or forced into committing suicide.

Clerics also ask for 'immunity' for themselves :

http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/mi ... te8057.htm

Everybody claim to be a victim : muderer, clerics, family, except the victim herself who is not there anymore to complain.

I wonder where in the Quran he found that God ordered to enucleate, shot and mutilate anyone.

[Anthea]

People are always blaming religion for their own irrational behaviour

All the various religions preach Peace and Love - why is it that such a great many of their practitioners use those same religious ideologies as reasons to commit the most horrendous atrocities?

[KabirKuhi]

What proof does he have that his wife commited adultery with another man? He's probably just lying to cover up his murder, if she was really adulterous as he claims, the entire community would be against her, not just himself. Extra-marital affairs don't go unnoticed. It's also enough to just divorce her in that case, there is no need to butcher people like an animal.

[Piling]

The way he killed her and mutilated her body (I hope she was already dead when he cut her in pieces) shows he has sadistic pulsions. But many psychopaths elaborate delirious 'rational' argument to justify their acts. The way he calls all the national and international authorities proves a sort of 'megalomaniac persecution'. No one can take him seriously. But obviously he hides himself somewhere and might have accomplices.

Concerning what he calls a 'religious' duty, in Islam, to decide that an adultery happened, a judge needs 4 witnesses swearing that they saw 2 persons having sex each others (the case of Aisha and the camel riders was the starting point of all that law).

So EVEN if you are a retarded mollah stating that adultery deserves death, you should condemn only people who had sex front of 4 persons : an orgy, then.

Many persons seem to ignore that : so-called 'honor-crimes' are not islamic at all. Even if you apply strictly the shari'a you can not make your own justice.

But I wonder what islamic clerics mean exactly when they ask 'immunity' from the KRG : just a protection against physical agression from angry people ? forbidding any critics against their own corporation ? Or as diplomatic immunity, an immunity for all imams and mollahs even if they transgress the law like the one who married the poor girl at 13 or 15 ? Religious should respect the Constitution and if not, being punished as any citizen.

[KabirKuhi]

It simply means that the clergy should not be involved in the investigation of the crime and criminal prosecution. The mullah responsible for the marriage should be prosecutable however. But I don't think the entire religious institution should be broken down, simply because of one members actions.

Concerning what he calls a 'religious' duty, in Islam, to decide that an adultery happened, a judge needs 4 witnesses swearing that they saw 2 persons having sex each others (the case of Aisha and the camel riders was the starting point of all that law).

So EVEN if you are a retarded mollah stating that adultery deserves death, you should condemn only people who had sex front of 4 persons : an orgy, then.

Many persons seem to ignore that : so-called 'honor-crimes' are not islamic at all. Even if you apply strictly the shari'a you can not make your own justice.

I think in some cases it might be genuine(saying adultery) in other cases it's paranoia or some other excuse to get rid of the person. Either way I disagree with killing someone over adultery. Divorce, shame and social-exclusion is enough punishment. Killing someone over social treachery is not deserving such grave punishment. Even traitors and people who ruin families because of their sexual desire, deserve mercy.

[Piling]

Another sensible 'mise au point' concerning Islamic or Kurdish customs :

http://rudaw.net/english/opinion/09062014

Sleman Ziad Yonis, the 45-year-old who murdered his 15-year-old child-bride, Dunya, has broken his silence in a video message in which he alleges he had found the teenager in bed with another man, and that his actions had been motivated by “honor.”

The killer, who has been in hiding since the murder last month, appears in the video with a Koran in front of him, on which he appears to take an oath and speaks only in Arabic. He pleads to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), claiming that his actions were justifiable by tribal and religious reasons, due to the circumstances in which he allegedly found his teenage wife.

Under no circumstances is the gruesome mutilation of the child-bride acceptable in Islam or Kurdish tribal custom. But if we were to entertain the notion of honor as it exists within a religious spectrum, we would inevitably come to the understanding that, even within religion where adultery is frowned upon, murder is not justifiable.

In Islam, a judge is required to sentence those accused of adultery with the testimony of four eyewitnesses. The harsh sentencing of an adulterer in most instances is theoretical, because those who commit adultery will not bring four witnesses to watch them commit the act. In theory, the harsh sentencing is supposed to deter adultery, but in reality it is nearly impossible to sentence someone to death because of the evidence-based requirements.

The only reason I mentioned the Islamic paradigm regarding this case is because Sleman wants to rely on religious justifications to get away with murder. Even within religious discourse, his actions are unjustifiable. Not only that, Kurdistan does not operate under tribal laws, nor does the Kurdistan constitution follow this method of sentencing accused adulterers.

It is important for people to not doubt Dunya’s innocence because she is no longer with us to defend herself, and it is our duty to defend her dignity. Sleman is purposely trying to distort the image of an innocent 15-year-old child bride who, according to her own mother, was a victim of domestic violence for the past year. Alongside this, she was murdered in the most gruesome and horrific manner.

Her eyes were gouged out, breasts cut off, genitals mutilated. Her body was tied to a car and dragged around. Nothing justifies this. Honor is not an excuse to murder little girls, and religion does not veil murderers from punishment. We must not be afraid to challenge those who use religious rhetoric as a means of escaping the legal punishment they deserve.

The Kurdish people must ensure that Dunya becomes an example for other women who are victims of domestic violence or those child brides who are looking at the case of Dunya, wondering what would happen to them if they attempted to escape their marriages.

In order to send a clear and strong message to women who are victims of domestic violence, the KRG must disregard claims of adultery made by Sleman, because he should not be the judge of Dunya’s character. His words are worthless. In fact, in his video he inevitably admits that he is the sole person responsible for murdering her. In other words, he has already accepted accountability and is attempting to justify his heinous crime with fallacious claims that can’t be substantiated, because the victim is dead.

I am left to wonder, even if the claims of Sleman are theoretically true, does Dunya really deserve the gruesome ordeal that she went through? She was a child after all, who was sold into marriage. Even if she did commit adultery, she does not deserve to be murdered in this unfair manner. The idea of a 15-year-old, who was subject to domestic abuse, bringing a man into her bedroom seems not only incredibly unlikely but clearly a fabrication to distort the image of Dunya’s innocence.

My concern is no longer Dunya, because she is dead. Instead, the women who are forced to accept abusive marriages and those who have no choice but to endure abusive partners should be our focal concern.

This case sends a distorted message to other women, unless it is dealt with appropriately. It tells other women that if they choose to escape violent marriages they will meet a similar fate to that of Dunya. Unfortunately, it tells a woman that her reputation can be tarnished by the claims of a partner.

In order to illustrate to women in Kurdistan that the law stands on the side of justice -- on their side -- perpetuators of violence must be brought to justice through Kurdistan’s legal system.

[Anthea]

Amazingly there is no mention of what happened to the other man involved - if indeed there ever was such a person

If there was another man in the same room as the child-bride perhaps he was there to protect her from the manic she was married to

The husband should never have married such a young girl - when he is an old man of 60 she would still be a young active 30 year old

When the girl asked for a divorce - the husband should have let her go

We have been trying to think of a suitably painful death for the husband - my friend thinks the husband should be covered in honey and tied onto the top of an anthill so that he is slowly eaten alive - sounds good to me