Iraqi Women's Rights Activist Receives Death Threat from Islamist Group: MADRE Launches Campaign to Protect Yanar Mohammed
February 5, 2004 – New York. Ms. Yanar Mohammed, founder of the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq, recently received a death threat from Islamist militants. Ms. Mohammed is one of numerous Iraqi women who has spoken forcefully against the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council’s Resolution 137, which seeks to impose arbitrary interpretations of Islamic law on Iraq and strip Iraqi women of basic human rights.
Shortly after initiating a campaign for the repeal of the Resolution, Ms. Mohammed received an email to her personal account, with the title: “Killing Yanar Mohammed Within a Few Days.” The message demanded that she stop her activism on behalf of women’s rights, described by the authors as “psychologically disturbed ideas about women’s freedom.” The group, Army of Sahaba, has threatened to kill her if she persists.
MADRE, an international women’s human rights organization, has initiated an international campaign to bring this threat to public attention. As part of this campaign, MADRE has issued the following open letter to Coalition Provisional Authority Chief Paul Bremer. As MADRE Associate Director Yifat Susskind commented, “Ironically, Paul Bremer himself helped create the current climate of extreme hostility towards women’s rights in Iraq by appointing a group of reactionary clerics to the Governing Council. The inclusion of these men – who authored Resolution 137 – on the Council has galvanized anti-democratic forces in Iraq, including those who are now threatening to kill Ms. Mohammed.”
For more on MADRE’s campaign to ensure the safety of Yanar Mohammed and defend Iraqi women’s rights to political participation and the full range of human rights, visit www.madre.org
MADRE is an international women’s human rights organization that works in partnership with women’s community-based groups in conflict areas worldwide. Our programs address issues of sustainable development, community improvement and women’s health; violence and war; discrimination and racism; self-determination and collective rights; women’s leadership development; and human rights education. MADRE began working in Iraq in 1991, in support of the rights of Iraqi women and their families and for an end to US-led bombing, economic sanctions and military occupation.
Yifat Susskind, MADRE's Communications Director, was born and raised in Israel and was active in the Israeli women's peace movement for several years. She has been featured as a commentator on CNN, National Public Radio and BBC radio. Ms. Susskind has written for Middle East Research & Information Project (MERIP) and been profiled in Ms. magazine and New York City’s Daily News. She is the author of a book on US foreign policy and women’s human rights, forthcoming, from Common Courage Press. Interviews Available.
An Open Letter to Ambassador Paul Bremer
February 5, 2004
Dear Ambassador Bremer,
MADRE, an international women’s human rights organization, would like to draw your attention to an urgent matter that concerns the Coalition Provisional Authority. Recently, Ms.Yanar Mohammed, a long-time advocate for Iraqi women’s rights, received a death threat from an Islamist group, the Army of Sahaba. The threat was issued after Ms. Mohammed launched a campaign to repeal the Iraqi Governing Council’s Resolution 137, which seeks to impose Islamic law on Iraq and strip Iraqi women of basic human rights.
After taking a public stand against this Resolution, Ms. Mohammed received an email to her personal account, headed “Killing Yanar Mohammed Within a Few Days.” The message demanded that she stop her activism on behalf of women’s rights, described as “psychologically disturbed ideas about women’s freedom.” The group threatened to kill her if she persists.
In accordance with provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Convention and the US Military Field Manual, the Coalition Provisional Authority that you lead is legally obligated to protect Ms. Mohammed – and, indeed, all Iraqi civilians – from armed violence. Moreover, many people, in the United States and around the world, feel that US accountability towards Iraqi civilians extends beyond the realm of legality, encompassing a moral responsibility to protect Iraqis from reactionary elements attempting to exploit the political vacuum created by the US overthrow of the Ba’ath regime.
Unfortunately, these reactionaries include the religious clerics whom you personally empowered when you appointed them to the Governing Council in July 2003. These theocratic Council Members are the authors of Resolution 137 and its attack on women’s human rights. Their inclusion on the Council has galvanized anti-democratic forces in Iraq, including those who are now threatening the life of Ms. Mohammed. If the US commitment to democratic pluralism, including women’s equality, is to be seen as more than a rallying cry for war, it is imperative that the United States protect and support Iraqis seeking to realize these principles and take a firm stand against those who threaten murder as means of silencing calls for justice and human rights.
On behalf of 23,000 MADRE members in the United States, we urge you to fulfill your obligations under international law and US law and ensure the safety of Iraqi civilians, including Yanar Mohammed and others made vulnerable to political violence during your tenure in Iraq.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
Sincerely,
Vivian Stromberg Yifat Susskind
Executive Director Communications Director
