Dosky Azad, whose body was found in one of the villages of Dohuk, has left home since 2018. Relatives and neighbors told KirkukNow, Dosky, a boy, since childhood was fond of girls’ games and female look and style, As I grew up, I switched gender and left the family home.
The security services in Dohuk found the body of Azad on January 31, 2022, three days after her death, in the village of "Babukhki" in the Mankish sub-district of Dohuk province, and the body was transferred to the Forensic Medicine Department.
Her relatives confirmed that Dosky was killed by her brother on January 28, and attributed the reason for the crime to being "a transgender girl", but so far there is no evidence proving that except that she completely changed her appearance to a girl and that she was fond of using make-up and wearing women's clothing.
KirkukNow reporter visited family, located in the Baroshki neighborhood in the center of Dohuk city on February first.
Dosky's father has two wives who live in the same house. Her mother's health was unstable and was unable to speak to KirkukNow but Bayan Saleh, Azad’s stepmother told the reporter, "A great calamity befell us that I cannot describe."
Dosky was fond of girls' games and female appearances since childhood, this passion grew with him
"Dosky has been fond of girls' games and female appearances since childhood, this passion grew with him until he recently changed his appearance completely to a girl," Saleh confirmed.
A statement stressed that the family did not adapt to the matter, forcing her to leave the house.
"She left the house in 2018 and has not returned, and we have not communicated with him since that time, and we do not know where he went," his stepmother added.
Dosky has five brothers and one sister from both of her mothers who all live in the same house.
"All we knew was that he was working in a beauty salon. I saw pictures of him and his features had changed into a girl, but we did not know that he had been sexually transformed."
There is no law in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq that protects the rights of LGBT people, although there are efforts to issue a law in this regard.
A report by Human Rights Watch HRW named “Iraq Events 2021,” published last January, states, “In 2021, Iraqi security forces arbitrarily arrested lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people based solely on their gender non-conforming appearance, and subjected them to ill-treatment including torture, forced anal exams, severe beatings, and sexual violence, in police custody.”
“Security forces also physically, verbally and sexually harassed people they perceived as LGBT at checkpoints. Human Rights Watch documented cases of digital surveillance by armed groups against LGBT people on social media and same-sex dating applications,” the report by HRW added.
“The government has failed to hold accountable members of armed groups who have abducted, raped, tortured, and killed LGBT Iraqis with impunity,” HRW concluded. “Article 394 of Iraq’s penal code makes it illegal to engage in extra-marital sex, a violation of the right to privacy that disproportionately harms LGBT people.”
The family statement comes at a time when Brindar Dosky, director of Mankish sub-district, said that Dosky Azad's family told the security services that they killed their "son" because he "changed his gender."
"All we know is that his brother came back from abroad, took him outside the city of Dohuk and killed him," Salih said.
Kirkuk Now has tried but couldn't figure out how her brother found and killed her.
One of Dosky’s neighbors and a close friend since childhood, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, "I do not remember when was the last time I saw her. During our childhood we used to play together in the alleys and blocs. He loved girls' games and collectibles. He was a student, but left school a long time ago. I haven't seen him since then."
All we know is that his brother came back from abroad, took him out of Dohuk and killed him
Dosky's friend said they were friends on Snapchat app, and he says, "I saw the pictures he posted and how he looked like a girl. I have heard that he was transgender through surgery."
He added, "I learned that she was working in a beauty salon in Erbil and that she was a famous beautician."
Dosky's neighbor emphasized that he was also a close friend of Dosky's brother, "but he never talked about Dosky and was ashamed to mention her name."
The director of Mankish district told (KirkukNow), "No one has been arrested so far in connection with the case, and what we learned is that the victim worked in a beauty salon, and we only learned from social media that that person is transgender."
Dosky's body was in the forensic medicine department in Dohuk until the evening of Tuesday, February 1, 2022.
The spokesman for the Dohuk police, Hemin Suleiman, told (KirkukNow) that no one has been arrested so far, and that "the perpetrator fled outside Iraq while he was staying abroad, according to our information, he returned to the Kurdistan Region to kill his brother."
The reasons behind his murder are not yet clear, we cannot confirm what we heard
"The reasons behind the murder are not yet clear, we cannot confirm what we heard from here and there, and we are waiting for the investigations to be completed," Hemin Suleiman confirmed.
This was not the first time that members of this community were killed, tortured and arrested. Last year, the security services in the city of Sulaymaniya arrested a group of young men on charges of belonging to the LGBT community.
Hamdi Abdul-Baqi, head of the Human Rights Organization in Dohuk, a non-governmental organization, told KirkukNow that "some organizations sought to urge the Kurdistan Regional Parliament to pass a law on the rights of LGBT people, without our efforts yielding anything."
"It is better to deal with these people according to the law, or to find a formula that prevents the dispersal of the social norms, and that the rights of members of this society are not violated and they receive proper treatment."
Regarding Azad’s case, Abdul-Baqi stressed the circumstances of the accident are not yet clear. “It has not been clear whether he has been transgender or not, but this referral is not the first to be registered in Dohuk. Dosky’s brother had to inform the government and the concerned authorities if he had any observations. On Dosky, because murder is a crime."
