Kurdish girls were detained by Baath, sold and
then sent to their `new owners` in Egypt

24 July 2003
KWAHK
Open letter from the Kurdish Women Action against
Honour Killing to:

Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN special
representative for Iraq
Mr Paul Bremer, American civil administrator of
Iraq
Mr John Sawaers, Britain´s special envoy to Iraq
Members of the Iraqi Governing Council

Subject: Anfal women

Date: 25/ 07/ 03

With each day that passes since the fall of the
Baathist regime, further revelations of past
atrocities are laid bare for the world to witness.
The most notorious crime committed was the Anfal;
the genocidal campaign against the Kurds spanned
the late 1980s and into the 1990s.

This veritable holocaust involved the gassing of
civilians, the destruction of towns and villages,
mass deportations, systematic torture and the
bulldozing of men, women and children into mass
graves, whether dead or alive. Such was the
regime´s devotion to the etiquette and
choreography of genocide!

Yet, there was a further twist to the Baathists
orgy of perversion, a course that they travelled
along with the assistance of others, namely the
sale and export of young Kurdish girls and
children into sex slavery.

During the Anfal campaign a number of Kurdish
girls were detained by the security forces, sold
and then sent to their «new owners« in Egypt. This
information is revealed in a document found
recently in the Iraqi intelligence and Security
headquarters in Kirkuk .

This document, registered as number 1601, is dated
10 December 1989, classified as "top secret
express". It is issued by the Director of
Intelligence - city of Ta´amim [Kirkuk] and sent
to the General Director of Intelligence in
Baghdad. It reveals that the Iraqi regime detained
a number of Kurds, among them "a group of girls
aged between 14 to 29".

The document gives the list of their names and
says that they had been dispatched to Egypt to be
sex slaves.

The fate of these girls is of immediate concern.
Finding them is not only important for them and
their families, but also opens up the prospect of
finding out more about the fate of the 182.000
other persons arrested during the Anfal and who
are still missing. It is with these aims that we
urge you to address the following demands:

1. When did the intelligence community, both
regionally and globally, first become aware of
this «trade«? If, as seems credible, knowledge was
long-standing, then why was nothing said or done?

2. More specifically, Al-jamiya Arabiya (The Arab
League) needs to be implored to take this issue
seriously and to ensure that member states reveal
the whole truth about their knowledge of, and
possible collaboration with, the Baathist´s
practice of trafficking sex slaves as part of the
Anfal campaign.

3. On the basis of the document mentioned above,
the Egyptian government has to be questioned about
its knowledge and role in this matter.

4. The Egyptian government must also reveal the
truth about the whereabouts of the following women
whose names are found in the above mentioned
document: Galawej Adel Rahim (12 years old);
Chiman Nazim Abas (22 years); Leyla Abas Jawhar
(21 years); Lamiah Nazim Omar (19 years); Bahman
Shukir Mustafa (26 years); Khurasan Abdulla Tawfiq
(20 years); Qadriya Ahmed Ibrahim (17 years);
Golmalek Ibrahim Ali (19 years); Khawla Ahmed
Fakhradeen (25 years); Esmat Kader Aziz (24
years); Najiba Hassan Ali (18 years); Hasiba Amin
Ali (29 years); Shiler Hassan Ali (20 years);
Shukriya Rustem Mohammad (27 years); Habiba
Hidayat Ibrahim (15 years); Kuwestan Abas Maulud
(26 years); Serwa Othman Karam (17 years); Suza
Majeed (22 years).

5. If any of these women are found alive, a full
series of measures need to be taken, including
compensation, psychological and physical therapy,
as well as ongoing protection, especially
relocation and meaningful refuge.

6. Finally, in order to reveal further information
about Anfal, the Coalition forces must release all
the documents that they have captured.

We urge all recipients of this letter to consider
seriously the points made and to provide a prompt
response.

Kurdish Women Action against Honour Killing
(KWAHK)
www.kurdishmedia.com/kwahk
Email: kwahk@hotmail.com