Aliya's father was waiting in the corner of the alley with a Kalashnikov in hand for his daughter to return, and before stepping into the doorstep of the house, he shot her with six bullets.
The accident occurred at dawn on Friday, March 18, 2022, in Soran district, north-eastern of Erbil province.
A statement by the Police Directorate of Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in Soran stated that they were informed at three o'clock in the morning on Friday that the body of a woman had been transferred to the emergency hospital, and it was found that "the victim's father shot her six times, and she died instantly," according to preliminary investigations.
The victim, Aliya, was 15 years old, and had been living in her father's house after her separation from her husband.
A source familiar with the details of the accident told KirkukNow, "Alia's father was waiting for her with a Kalashnikov in his hand, because his daughter was not at home that night and came back late."
the victim's father shot her six times, and she died instantly
She was in a car and got out of it after she reached the alley in which her father's house is located. Before she reached the threshold of the house, her father fired a hail of bullets at her. Several bullets hit the vehicle, and she fell automatically on the ground and was unable to escape.
"There were two young men in the car, and both of them fled," the source added
According to KirkukNow follow-ups, Aliya was forced to get married while she was only 13 and quit school at the time, but KirkukNow was not able to obtain information whether the marriage contract was issued by the court or whether the marriage took place outside the court.
According to the laws in force in Iraq, girls over the age of 15 are allowed to marry according to several conditions while the laws in the Kurdistan region of Iraq KRI is allow marriage for couples aged 18 and above.
However, another statement from the Directorate of Combating Violence against Women and the Family in Soran indicated that "Alia was a student who lived in Shahidan neighborhood, and she was hit with six bullets by her father, and she died instantly."
This comes at a time when more than one source confirmed to KirkukNow that Alia left school once got married two years ago.
Since the beginning of this year, several women and girls have been killed in Kurdistan Region under the excuse of "honor or social problems", including Eman (Maria) Sami (20 years), who was killed by her brother in Erbil, and Shinyar Anwar (21 years), who was killed by her husband in Sulaymaniyah.
Bahar Ali, the supervisor of the Kurdistan Women's Alliance, a front that includes a number of organizations defending women's rights, told KirkukNow, "Alya is the 16th woman killed so far since the beginning of this year."
Initially, the Directorate for Combating Violence against Women and the Family attributed Aliya's death to a "social problem", although the police said an investigation into the incident would begin after the one-week Nowruz holiday.
Two years after her marriage, Alya separated from her husband and returned to her father's.
When Aliya’s body was transferred to Soran Emergency Hospital, none of her first or second-degree relatives were present to receive her body, but some of her distant relatives attended, who told the police that Aliya was a virgin girl and still a student. That is because Alia got married at the age of thirteen and dropped out of school," the source told KirkukNow.
Alia's father turned himself in to the police immediately after committing the crime, and the two young men who were in the car with Alia that were arrested.
“The investigation process is awaiting the return of the medical report from the forensic medicine department in Erbil after the end of the Nowruz holidays (next Sunday, March 27), the investigations with Alia’s father and the two young men will be resumed, as they,” according to the anonymous source.
Statistics from the General Directorate for Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence indicate that 24 women were killed in the Kurdistan Region last year, in addition to the registration of 62 cases of "suicide" and more than 78 cases of "self-immolation."
the lack of implementation of these laws is one of the reasons for the persistence of cases of femicide
Captain Sherwan Khaled, the spokesperson for the Directorate of Combating Violence against Women in Soran, told KirkukNow, that Aliya was the first woman to be killed within the borders of the Soran administration, but in January of this year, another woman "shot herself."
He pointed out that "Alia's case is the second since 2015 for a woman to be killed by relatives. We are waiting for the Nowruz holiday to end in order to start investigation procedures."
According to official statistics, more than 300 women have been killed in the Kurdistan Region since 2015 up today.
Bahar Ali, the supervisor of the Kurdistan Women’s Alliance says that one of the problems of women who are married before the age of eighteen is that most of them do not have legal files in the courts, because their marriage contract did not take place in the court, and when they have children, they face problems in issuing the civil status card.
"Although the laws in the Kurdistan Region are strict regarding the killing of women, the lack of implementation of these laws is one of the reasons for the persistence of cases of femicide," Ali said.
In the Kurdistan Region, cases of killing women are dealt with according to Article 406 of the Iraqi Penal Code, which provides for life imprisonment or the death penalty, and the perpetrators of these crimes are not covered by law under any general or special amnesty.
