February 10, 2007

In a dispatch posted at 3:33pm Makkah time Saturday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam (Islammemo) reported that the puppet "Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court" has ordered the execution of three Iraqi women on charges of involvement in Resistance attacks in Baghdad. The puppet "court" called such Resistance activity "terrorism."

The Baghdad correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the Iraqi Lawyers’ Guild as saying that the women, all Sunnis, were:

Wasin Talib, aged 31, who was charged with killing five puppet policemen during a Resistance attack;

Zaynab Fadil, 25, charge with attacking a joint patrol of US and Iraqi puppet forces Baghdad in September 2006 together with her husband and cousin; and

Liqa’ 'Umar Muhammad, 26, charged with taking part with her husband and brother in the killing of an official in the top security "Green Zone" area around the Republican Palace in downtown Baghdad.

Attourney Walid al-Hayyali said that the court ordered the execution of the women under Paragraph 156, without allowing them to appoint any lawyer to represent them and argue their case. Since they have no lawyers, they are unable to appeal or ask for a dismissal of the charges against them.

Al-Hayyali called on the Islamic world to act to denounce the "verdict" and halt the execution of the three women, noting that Liqa’ Muhammad had given birth in prison a few months ago and is still nursing her child, and Wasin Talib has a 3-year old daughter.

The three women are currently being held in the al-Kazimiyah Prison located in the Shi'i district of al-Kazimiyah in Baghdad, a stronghold of the pro-Iranian Jaysh al-Mahdi militia.

In a dispatch posted at 9:49pm Makkah time Saturday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Hajjah Hamdiyah al-'Isawi, the mother of Liqa’ 'Umar Muhammad pleaded for the release of her daughter. She said that if her daughter, scheduled to be hanged on 3 March, cannot be released then it would be better if the Resistance bombard the prison and let her die rather than fall into the clutches of the pro-Iranian Shi'i sectarians gunmen.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam met al-Hajjah Hamdiyah al-'Isawi in her home in central Baghdad. She said that when her daughter was arrested, she was in her first month of pregnancy and that just one month ago she had given birth behind bars. Al-Hajjah Hamdiyah said she had no information on what happened to her granddaughter.

She said that the puppet "court" had not permitted her to appoint a lawyer to represent her daughter, nor had she been told when the trial was going to be. Al-Hajjah Hamdiyah said that her daughter Liqa’ was charged with being a member of al-Qa'idah and killing puppet policemen, but she said that Liqa’ had actually been out of Iraq at the time of the incident she was "convicted" of committing.

Al-Hajjah Hamdiyah told Mafkarat al-Islam that she had been looking for someone who can come to the rescue, and hoped that through the news agency someone somewhere might be able to do something to prevent her daughter’s execution.

The correspondent reported that his interview with al-Hajjah Hamdiyah ended when the woman fainted from the stress to which she had been subject.