UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

Both sexes have become victims of such attacks, as have liberal Muslims and members of
religious minorities. Perpetrators of such acts are militant Islamists, both Sunni and Shi’a.
There have been reports from several cities, such as Baghdad, Basrah and Fallujah, of
religious edicts being made public banning a range of activities. 704
Persons not abiding by strict Islamic dress codes are easily identifiable targets. Women,
including non-Muslims, 705 have been assaulted, including with acid, for not covering their
hair or wearing the abaya, the black, all-encompassing veil, 706 and men have been attacked
for wearing short trousers, shaving their beards or having long hair. Reportedly, in areas
under the control of religious groups or militias, women have been beaten for showing too
much naked skin by not wearing socks or not covering their hair. 707
Others have been targeted for engaging in activities considered “immoral” or “un-Islamic”,
such as women driving cars, working outside the house or playing sports. Basketball player
Samira Kubaissy was killed in January 2006 after she had been accused by extremists of
un-Islamic behaviour. 708 Men and women are called upon to segregate in public. On
15 March 2005, members of the Mehdi Army attacked picnicking Basrah University
students, claiming they were violating the principles of Islam with their western-style
clothing, and by singing, dancing and mingling with the other sex. The Sadrists fired guns
at the students and beat them with sticks. Police were also present during the incident but
did not intervene. University officials reported that at least 15 students were hospitalized. 709
On 8 March 2005, three women were killed in the Shi’ite neighbourhood of Al-Sadr. They
704 For example, flyers distributed in Baghdad’s neighbourhood of Tobji in October 2006 banned “vices”
such as music and singing, celebratory gunfire at weddings, the selling of alcohol and drugs, wearing
improper Western clothes and cutting hair and warned that those that who violate these bans would be “held
accountable”. This religious edict was reportedly issued by the Committee for Promotion of Virtue and
Prevention of Vice, which is linked to the local office of Muqtada Al-Sadr; see: Sudarsan Raghavan, Another
Freedom Cut Short, The Washington Post, 6 October 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501825.html.
See also on religious fatwas issued in Basrah, The
Independent, For the women of Iraq, the war is just beginning, 8 June 2006,
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article717570.ece.
705 For further information on non-Muslim women forced to cover their hair, see p. 122.
706 IRIN, Iraq: Women attacked for removing headscarves, NGO says, 7 March 2006, http://www.irinnews.
org/report.aspx?reportid=26174; ibidem, Iraq: Acid attacks on “immodest” women on the rise, 4 July 2005,
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=25229.
707 For example, in Baghdad’s mainly Shi’ite suburb of Za’afaraniya, members of the Mehdi Army
reportedly slap schoolgirls not wearing the hijab and in Amiriyah, a Sunni stronghold in Baghdad, militants
shave the heads of three women for not being dressed decently and lash young men for wearing shorts; see:
Nancy Trejos, Women Lose Ground in the New Iraq, The Washington Post, 16 December 2006,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/15/AR2006121501744.html; Beaumont,
see above footnote 174; IRIN, Iraq: Athletes targeted for sectarian, religious reasons, see above footnote
648. In May 2006, three athletes were killed in Baghdad’s Sunni neighbourhood of Al-Saidiya after leaflets
were distributed warning people not to wear shorts, as it “violates the principles of Islamic religion when
showing forbidden parts of the body”; see BBC News, Iraqis shot “for wearing shorts”, 26 May 2006,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5020804.stm; The Associated Press, Iraqi Athletes Killed for Wearing
Shorts, 27 May 2006, http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2012915.
708 Trejos, ibid.; Beaumont, see above footnote 174; IRIN, Iraq: Athletes targeted for sectarian, religious
reasons, see above footnote 648; The Independent, For the women of Iraq, the war is just beginning, 8 June
2006, http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article717570.ece.
709 Catherine Philp, Death at “immoral” picnic in the park, Times Online, 23 March 2005,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1537512,00.html.
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