Why my brothers broke my legs

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My life as a woman, living under Islamic laws in Iraq

Inas Sadiq Ali is trying to escape Iraq. As a 35-year-old woman, she is not free to make her own choices. Her brothers do that for her. Read her blog, and buy her book that is published on Amazon. And follow her Twitter account to show your support.

I am an Iraqi citizen, INAS Sadiq Ali from Iraq-Baghdad. I am 35 years of age and I live inside a Shia Muslim family. My Shia society believes that the concept of honor is within the woman’s body and her genitals. This belief has led to the slaughter of hundreds of women in cold blood by their own families for the slightest sexual misconduct.

Human dignity at stake under Iraqi Muslim laws

I have spent all my life under the control of my brothers even with no space to make my own decisions. This is their way of preventing me from fornicating and avoiding seduction from men. They deprived me of my basic rights to education and coerced me to totally cover my whole body with Islamic black garments whenever I stepped out of the house. A refusal to abide by these medieval orders will result in death threats.

The Islamic laws of Iraq have no salvation for women who endure these infringements. Women continue to be used and abused under these strict Islamic diasporas. My refusal to submit to these measures and restraints has incurred a malicious plan to eradicate my existence. The maiden was when I was abducted by my own family and taken to a graveyard in southern Iraq. While pointing a gun to my head, they broke my phone so I wouldn’t be able to contact anyone for help. This was followed by serious physical abuse after which they kept me behind bars in the house for a year. My attempt to contact the Iraqi police was met with great disappointment as I was told by the Police I deserved this inhumane treatment.

Plan to escape sabotaged

I secretly acquired a passport to aid my escape from this brutal treatment. My three brothers found out and broke my legs to prevent me from escaping. They confiscated all my paperwork and now I remain strictly under the confines of our home with no free space. It was through the internet that I met a women’s rights activist who asked me to speak up for the abuses I have experienced under the watch of my brothers and by living in an Islamic state. This inspired me to author, ‘The price of honor in the land of Babylon.’ I have since then been involved in various activist campaigns against the maltreatment of women under Islamic laws.

My father died in 2006 and my mum has been paralyzed for years. I seek to be saved and be helped to relocate to a country where my rights and human dignity will be respected.