Free Republic

We do not know why Sahar went that last time to Mosul. But we do know why she was killed. A democrat, a journalist and a woman -- it's a lethal combination in Iraq. Sahar Hussein Ali al-Haydari, 44, was fearless in writing about attempts by extremists to establish an Iraqi Islamic emirate based around her home town of Mosul. She was harsh on efforts to foment sectarian conflict: The last article we received was a Romeo and Juliet tale of a girl stoned to death for converting from Yezidism (a Kurdish sect) to Islam because she fell in love...

Tehran, 20 June (AKI) - Makrameh Ebrahimi on Thursday will be stoned to death in a square in front of the cemetery of Takestan, in Ghazvin province some 100 km from Tehran, for having had a child out of wedlock 11 years ago, women's rights groups in Iran said. The Islamic Republic denies issuing stoning death sentences and carrying them out. Thursday's is the first death sentence by stoning to be publicly announced and rights groups say the population has been invited to participate and throw stones. It is reportedly unclear how many stoning sentences have been issued and carried...

A man who raped a Muslim woman because she showed an interest in Christianity has been jailed for at least five years by a Sydney court. As Abdul Reda Al-Shawany was sentenced today, the Downing Centre District Court heard a harrowing statement from the victim, revealing that her shame and fear had been compounded by her cultural background. The woman, who cannot be named, arrived in Australia as a refugee from Iraq. But she said that even when she was jailed by dictator Saddam Hussein, she never feared for her life the way she did after the rape. "It is...

BERLIN -- A Turkish author in Germany, herself a victim of the act, wants a ban on forced marriages and honor killings of Turkish women in the country. Germany is considering such a move as honor killings escalate in Turkish communities, especially in Berlin, where six women have been slain in the past year. Serap Cileli, whose husband deprived her of food, spoke out against the "crazy tolerance of society" in Germany, where 45 women have been stabbed, shot or drowned in so-called honor killings since 1996, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported. Cileli, who moved to Germany when she was 8,...