From the Iraq Freedom Congress, Sept. 17:

IFC Statement On Kidnapping And Raping Of Women In Iraq:
We Must Stand Against Sectarian Barbarism

The dirty sectarian war has launched a new phase in Iraq. A few days ago a sectarian gang abducted a woman of the Shiite sect from Alhussianya district (northern Baghdad), raped her and abandoned her in a deserted area in the outskirts of Baghdad. In retaliation, a Shiite sectarian gang kidnapped eight women of the Sunni sect from Rashidya district (across the street from Alhussienya) and excreted the same vicious acts of rape and torture.

These mobs that practice the most inhumane ways to express their revenge such as plucking out their enemies’ eyes, using a drill to open holes in their bodies, or chopping off their genitals and beheading them, are using another form of sectarian genocide.

As a result of these attacks, the women are faced with death by their relatives who intend to exercise honor killings because of the reactionary traditions, lawlessness, and the absence of the state. In addition, the women in Iraq are undergoing a massive violation of their rights because of religious groups who took control of the society and impose their anti-human laws.

The occupation is held responsible for the crimes committed against women in the new U.S. formed “democratic” Iraq. Its policy in order to legitimize its occupation and crimes was to impose sectarian and nationalist groups upon people and divide the society into sects to tighten its grip and unleash the sectarian gangs to kill, behead, and organize sectarian cleansing.

While Iraq Freedom Congress condemns these acts, it cautions people not to slide into the sectarian trap. The sectarian gangs have failed to pull people into their conflict, therefore they try other tactics to achieve their goal.

Iraq Freedom Congress calls upon the relatives of those women to provide them with safety and support, and protect them from any humiliation under any pretext after what they underwent because those women are victims of the occupation.

In the meantime, IFC announces that it will take responsibility for protecting those women and provide them with all kinds of support. Also, IFC is determined to stand against those gangs and asks people to join its ranks to form the safety forces that is needed to protect themselves and their families.

Iraq Freedom Congress

See our last post on sectarian terror in Iraq, and our last communique from Iraq's civil resistance.