Abeer Qassim Hamza
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Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi (عبير قاسم حمزه الجنابي; born August 19, 1991 – died March 2006) was a 14-year-old Iraqi girl who lived in the village of Mahmoudiyah southeast of Baghdad who was gang-raped, burned and killed, by American troops. [1][2] Hamza, her parents and her younger sister were shot and killed in their home in Mahmoudiyah on or around March 12, 2006. A discharged U.S. serviceman, Pfc. Steven D. Green, was arrested and charged on July 3, 2006 with raping and killing Hamza and killing her father Qassim Hamza Raheem, 45, her mother Fakhriya Taha Muhasen, 34, and her seven-year-old sister, Hadeel Qassim Hamza. Initial details published by American media reported that Abeer Qassim Hamza was 25 years old, and that the others killed were her husband and child, details which were incorrect. Others reported that her parents were killed before the soldiers raped Abeer. [3]
According to one witness, a 13 year old neighbour (name unknown), Abeer's father was told that there were Americans in his house. Abeer always told her mother that she was afraid of the soldiers. Her mother was sending her to stay with a neighbour, but she didn't get there in time. Qassim Hamza entered the house thereafter to "see what was happening". Omar reports to hearing a sound "like beating a tin barrel with a stick a few times", and later saw five Americans leave the house, one of whom carried two guns. Omar's mother claims that she and her son went to the neighbour's door, shouting through asking if they required assistance, but received no reply. She says she then noticed smoke coming from their window which led her to scream for help from neighbours, several of whom knocked down the door into the house. When she entered she found the remains of Abeer Qassim Hamza. "She lay there, one leg stretched and the other bended and her dress was lifted to her neck".[1]
Military investigators believe that Green and as many as four other soldiers were involved in the commission of the murders while on active duty. A criminal affidavit filed in U.S. federal court states that Green and one other participant raped Hamza and that Green killed all four individuals himself. Abeer's uncle, Ahmad, says he has "no faith" in the Court Martial, requesting that the Americans "hand the criminals to us, to an Iraqi Court. We don't trust their justice, they should be tried here in Iraq."[1]
Iraqi insurgents kidnapped two American troops whom they later killed, claiming that the killing was retaliation for Abeer's rape.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d 'We have been silent about many crimes but we will not stand rape' - Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in The Guardian. 20 October 2006
- ^ Josh White. "Ex-Soldier Charged in Killing of Iraqi Family", The Washington Post, July 03, 2006, p. A01. Retrieved on July 4, 2006.
- ^ UK Paper Confirms Revenge as Motive for GIs' Mutilation Deaths - Eat the Press by Michelle Pilecki, The Huffington Post. 07 September 2006
