Honour Killings in Kurdistan

Ms Amin and her baby son

It's very dangerous to fall in love and marry without permission from both families in Kurdistan. In the little village of Dokan is the home of Qadir Abdul Rahman Ahmed who said "Honour is more important than religion". Honour killing has a long history and lawmakers have little chance of changing people's minds about a tribal code that's been going on for centuries. The murder is often hidden or made to look like suicide and arrests are rare.


Mr Ahmed's niece, Sirwa Hama Amin fell in love with her neighbour Aram Jamal Rasool. They grew up across the dusty road from one another. When the romance started two years ago they knew their union was doomed because the two families hated each other so they had to meet in secret. But one day Ms Amin's brother caught her texting her lover on her mobile phone. Her male relatives beat her, took her phone away and kept prisoner in her house.


But the lovers became so desperate, they planned to commit suicide together. On 2nd September 2009 she sneaked out of her parents home and met her lover who was waiting with a grenade he had stolen from his father. Then they decided against killing themselves and instead went to the police hoping they would help them. Mr Rasool was arrested for being in possession of a grenade and Ms Amin was sent to a shelter for battered women. Later the couple appealed to the court and two weeks later, after submitting the paperwork, they were married.


Although Ms Amin's family objected to the marriage they agreed to a truce: if they promised to leave Dokan and never return, her relatives agreed not to hunt her down. For three and a half months the couple lived in Sulaimaniya, about an hour from Dokan. Then on 2nd January, around 9pm, Ms Amin was in the bathroom when she heard gunshots. She opened the door and saw her husband covered in blood and one of her brothers aiming a gun at her. Before the smoke cleared gunmen fired 17 bullets into her husband's chest and 4 into her leg and hips. The brother who did the shooting was Hussein Hama Amin, a soldier in the pesh merga. "Why should she live for being that irresponsible about the honour of her family" he said. His sister was two months pregnant at the time.

But the killing didn't resolve the fued and no one was arrested. Instead the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, tribal leaders and clerics brought the families together in a formal council session in front of more than 4,000 local residents. General Salah said he was pressed by the party to forgive his son's killers and promised not to kill them and Ms Amin's family was required to promise not to kill her. It is believed that money exchanged hands. Her relatives say they have disowned her but will not harm her. "May God kill her, we will not kill her" they said.

In General Salih's living room, Ms Amin held her 4 month old son in her arms, named after her husband. According to Kurdish custom, she is now unsuitable for marriage. She lives a few hundred feet from the family who cast her out, in a house full of weapons, afraid they will one day kill her. When she leaves the house, she is escorted by armed relatives.

And so life goes on for a young woman who fell in love with the wrong man.