SEMINAR: To Remember Du'a Khalil Aswad

On the third anniversary of the stoning of Du'a Khalil Aswad to death in public and in condemnation of all forms of violence against women join us in this public seminar to remember Du'a and all women around the world who were killed in so- called honour killings.

On the 7th of April 2007 Du'a Khalil Aswad was brutally stoned to death in front of 2000 men, the killers included her uncle and some of her closest relatives in the Town of Bashiqa. The crime was a so-called 'honour' killing; the event outraged the world, as the perpetrators filmed the carnage on their mobile phones, which footage found its way onto the internet, where the world could see the murderous delight of the crowd and the cooperation of security forces. Despite a worldwide outrage at this act, and national protests to pressurize both Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional Governments to bring killers to justice, after one year of this crime, they were released and an amount of 4 million Iraqi dinars were paid to Du'a Khalils family to keep them silent about it.

Speakers' Biographies:

Nelida Fuccaro lectures modern Middle Eastern History at SOAS and she is a specialist on Kurdish, Iraqi and Persian Gulf history. She has published on ethnicity, nationalism and urban history and she is currently writing a history of urban violence in the modern Middle East. She is the author of ' The Other Kurds: Yazidis in Colonial Iraq' (IB Tauris, 1999) and of 'Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf: Manama since 1800' (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Nadje Al-Ali is Reader in Gender Studies and Chair of the Centre for Gender Studies, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her main research interests revolve around gender theory; feminist activism; women and gender in the Middle East; transnational migration and Diaspora mobilization; war, conflict and reconstruction. Her publications include what kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq (co-authored with Nicola Pratt) (2009, University of California Press) and Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present (2007, Zed Books). Her most recent book (co-edited with Nicola Pratt) is entitled Women & War in the Middle East: Transnational Perspectives (Zed Books, 2009). Nadje Al-Ali is an elected board member of the Association of Middle East Women's Studies (AMEWS), a member of the Feminist Review collective, and a member of the editorial board of The Middle East in London linked to the London Middle East Institute (LMEI). Last year, she started the SOAS pathfinder programme for female academic refugees at the Centre for Gender Studies. She is also a founding member of Act Together: Women's Action for Iraq and a member of Women in Black UK.

Heather Harvey: has over 15 years experience in the UK and abroad in the voluntary and public sectors. She has specialised in equality, development and human rights and particularly women's human rights. Her work has included 4 years in remote rural regions of Mali and Zimbabwe, 3 years in the foreign office forced marriage unit and now 4 years in her current post as stop violence against women campaign manager at Amnesty International UK.

Houzan Mahmoud is a political activist from Iraqi Kurdistan. She is the representative abroad of Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq. Occasional writer for UK publications including The Independent, The Guardian, The Tribune, The Newstatsman and others. Houzan led many campaigns internationally, including campaigns against the rape and abduction of women in Iraq, International Campaign against Killing and Stoning of women in Kurdistan, and campaign to remove articles allowing Islamic Sharia law in Kurdistan and Iraqi constitution. Houzan has written many articles about the situation of women in Iraq, Kurdistan and Middle East, which have been translated into and published in many languages. She appears as a commentator on various TV programs and international media outlets on the situation in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan.

Organizers: Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq and the Centre for Gender Studies (SOAS)

Contact emails: N.S.Al-Ali@soas.ac.uk and houzan2007@yahoo.com

Tel: 07534264481 www.equalityiniraq.com