The NIRIJ magazine - International Media Support

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A Journal that Deals with Investigative
Journalism, Published in Arabic, Kurdish
and English, By the Network of the Iraqi
Investigative Journalism
General Supervisor
Muhammed Al-Rubaie
Editorial Board
Saman Noah
Mayada Dawod
Koral Nory
Khilod al-amiry
Dilovan Barwary
Basim Firansis Hana
Muwafaq Muhamad
Ali Nasir Al-zaydi
Amar Al-Salih
Khider Domli
Translation
Wahab Abdullah
Falih Hasan
Design
Hekar Findi
Info@findi.info
Contact:
nirij.2011@gmail.com
Supported by the International
Media Support IMS
02
03
04
06
07
14
20
Four Iraqi Journalists from (NIRIJ)
Win International Prizes in Belgium
and Jordan
Consult NIRIJ Network in Competitions
and Winning Journalism
Grants
NIRIJ Runs its First Training Workshop
for Investigative Journalism
Skills
How to Get NIRIJ Donation
Children Indulging in Iraqi Violence
to the Level of Suicide
Female genital mutilation in Kurdistan
Painful stories in search for
happy endings
10 tips for investigating corruption
No: 1 2012 1

About the Network of Iraqi Reporters
for Investigative Journalism (NIRIJ)
The Network of the Iraqi Investigative
Journalism (NIRIJ) is the
first network of investigative
journalism in Iraq, founded on
9th of May, 2011 by a number of
professional investigative journalists
and has been working
since then on providing financial,
editorial and advisory support for
the investigative Iraqi journalists
to perform detailed investigative
reports based on searching for
documented facts and supported
by variety of sources who are
strongly related to the investigating
topic.
The main mission of NIRIJ, in
addition to performing detailed
investigative reports, is improving
the skills of the Iraqi investigative
journalists and working on
spreading the investigating culture
in the Iraqi journalism, to be
a regulatory device which diagnose
the faults and follow financial
and administrative corruption
cases, indicate deviations and
mistakes in the official and the
civil behavior and the violations
committed against the different
society segments in Iraq.
In this context, NIRIJ works on
helping the investigative Iraqi
journalists to choose detailed
investigative reports that deal
with financial and administrative
corruption, the community violations
against women, children
and the weak segments in a society
like Iraq which witnesses a
crucial transformation, in addition
to working on completing
the suppositions related to the
investigative journalists’ reports
and funding the reports such as
costs of translating documents,
transportation, accommodation,
laboratory tests, advices, printing,
communications and all
other requirements of a detailed
investigative report.
Furthermore; NIRIJ directly supervises
the investigative report
in all its stages, helps in completing
the report’s structure, reviewing
the report for several
times down to the last detail of
editing and publishing the report
in the Iraqi and Arabic media
channels, in addition to translating
it into Kurdish and English.
Meanwhile; NIRIJ works, through
its annual and biannual plans, to
provide training chances inside
or outside Iraq for the Iraqi investigative
journalists and preparing
a number of the distinguished
journalists to join NIRIJ
in the future as supervisors or
trainers.
NIRIJ has always worked on
establishing a professional investigative
culture in all aspects of
journalism in Iraq ; it looks forward
to establishing a unique
investigative type to be a tool for
detecting the hidden and disclosing
facts that may cause in a
positive change in the Iraqi society.
NIRIJ presents a number of services
to complete detailed reports
that depend on a professional
methodology and are
based on disclosing facts to the
public, the services include:-
1. Costs of transportation, accommodation
and other necessary
costs for meeting sources or
visiting sites for field investigation.
2. Costs of obtaining documents
and access to Iraqi, Arabic and
universal databases.
3. Costs of the investigative reports’
supervisors.
4. Costs of a legal expert to
evaluate the investigative report
statutorily and making sure that
it is free from any statutory violation
before it is published in
different media channels.
5. Providing statutory support for
the journalist in the case of any
legal accountability after publishing
the report.
6. Translating the report into
both Kurdish and English languages
and vice versa.
7. Working on publishing the
report in Iraqi, Arabic and universal
media channels in addition
to NIRIJ website.
8. Helping the investigative journalists
to present their reports to
Iraqi, Arabic and universal competitions.
9. Furthermore; NIRIJ grants the
investigative journalist a publishing
bonus of 500$ to 750$ after
two weeks of publishing the report.
No: 1 2012 1

Four Iraqi
Journalists from
(NIRIJ) Win
International Prizes in
Belgium and Jordan
The General Supervisor of the
Network of Iraqi Reporters for
Investigative Journalism (NIRIJ)
Muhammad Al-Rubai’i announced,
on Friday, that four
Iraqi journalists of the network
members have won Arab and
international prizes for the best
investigative reports of this year,
adding that the network is granting
two to three million Iraqi
Dinars to any Iraqi journalist who
intends making detailed investigative
reports that deal with
financial and administrative corruption.
Al-Rubai’I told “Al-Sumariya
News” that “Dilovan Barwari,
who is a (NIRIJ) member, has
received on Thursday the inter-
Al-Sumariya News/ ARIJ Website/
Arabic Newspapers and Agencies
Dec. 9th, 2011
national Lorenzo Natali Prize for
printed and electronic journalism
in the Belgium capital Brussels
for his investigative report
(female Circumcision in Kurdistan
Region)”, adding that “1500 reporters
around the world took
part in the competition”.
Al-Rubai’i stated that the mentioned
report was supervised by
his own and “was performed in
cooperation with the Ammanbased
(Arab Reporters for Investigative
Journalism ARIJ) which
played a role in training the active
members of NIRIJ (the Network
of Iraqi Reporters for Investigative
Journalism)”.
“Mayada Dawood (Milad Al-
Juburi), Saman Noah and
Muafaq Muhammad also won
prizes for the Arab world’s first
and second best investigative
reports for 2011 in the Arab
Spring Competition, which was
held on the sidelines of the
(ARIJ) conference in the Jordanian
capital Amman with the
participation of 12 Arab countries”,
Al-Rubai’i added.
2
No: 1 2012

Al-Rubai’I also mentioned that
“the Iraqi journalist Mayada Dawood
won the first ARIJ Prize for
the best Arabic investigative report
of 2011 for her report (A
Weak Law and Government Failure
Lead the Iraqi Homeless
People to Violence, deviation and
crimes) which was made in cooperation
with NIRIJ”, adding “the
journalists Saman Noah and
Mwuafaq Muhammad won the
second prize for their report
(After the Authorities Failure, the
Kurdistan Women Incinerator
Eats a Female up Every 20
Hours), which was made in cooperation
with NIRIJ”.
Winning the first and second
Lorenzo Natali prizes as the best
investigative reports of the Arab
World for 2011 by Iraqi journalists,
comes after a year of winning
the first and second best
investigative reports in the Arab
World for the year 2011 by
Dilovan Barwari for his report
(female Circumcision in Kurdistan
Region) and Mayada Dawood
(Milad Al-Juburi) for her report
(Recruitment of Child Soldiers by
Armed Groups).
Al-Rubai’I also mentioned that
“NIRIJ is making preparations for
granting two to three million
Dinars to every Iraqi journalist
who intends performing detailed
investigative reports that deal
with financial and administrative
corruption, the defects of the
Iraqi laws, the negative social
phenomenon that large groups
of Iraqis suffer from, in addition
to human rights’ violation dossiers,
environment vandalism and
other phenomenon that the governmental
institutions, authorities
and NGOs failed to resolve.
NIRIJ, which is funded by the
International Media Support IMS,
is established in May 2011 by
several Iraqi journalists specialized
in investigative journalism.
Consult NIRIJ Network
in Competitions and Winning
Journalism Grants
If you want to benefit from NIRIJ network consultancies
to know how to take part in the international
competitions and prizes, or look for
a chance to obtain a special journalism grant to
perform journalistic projects, you can contact
NIRIJ network via the e-mail
(nirij.2011@gmail.com) to obtain detailed consultancy
on applying for competitions and
grants and their deadlines which are published
on NIRIJ website or other Arabic and international
media organizations.
No: 1 2012 3

NIRIJ
Runs its First Training
Workshop for Investigative
Journalism Skills
The Network of the Iraqi
Reporters for Investigative
Journalism (NIRIJ)
is funded by the International
Media Support
IMS.
The Network of the Iraqi Reporters
for Investigative Journalism
(NIRIJ) closed in early January
2012 its first training workshop
which was held for introducing
the art of investigating and the
steps of performing a detailed
and planned investigative report,
depending on dealing with the
report’s assumption and later
indicating the available and
closed sources to prepare for the
report structure and finally perform
the report.
The workshop, which was held in
Arbil and in which the NIRIJ
General Supervisor Muhammad
Rubai’i lectured, included a detailed
explanation for the two
winning investigative reports of
NIRIJ as the best investigative
reports of the Arab world for the
year 2011, (Homeless People in
Iraq … A Weak Law and Government
Failure Lead the Iraqi
Homeless People to Violence,
deviation and crimes) by Mayada
Dawood (Milad Al-Juburi) and
(After the Authorities Failure, the
Kurdistan Women Incinerator
Eats a Female up Every 20
Hours) by Saman Noah and
Mwuafaq Muhammad in cooperation
with NIRIJ.
The workshop also included details
about the two other investigative
reports of NIRIJ, which
were made in cooperation with
Arab Reporters Investigative
Journalism (ARIJ) and won the
first and the second prizes as the
best investigative report of the
Arab World in 2010; (Female
Circumcision … Painful Stories
Look for Ends) by Dilovan Barwari
and (Al-Qaida Children
Spread Horror in their Families
and Perform Missions as Professionally
as Adults) by Mayada
Dawood (Milad Al-Juburi).
The humanitarian stories of the
four reports were discussed in
detail in the workshop, to explain
the structure of the winning reports,
rearranging priorities in
making an investigative report,
grading in using stories and information
to perform a successful
and complete investigative
report.
The workshop participants presented
the suppositions they are
working on, for the use of Network
of Iraqi Reporters for Investigative
Journalism (NIRIJ)
which also funds and editorially
supervises the reports, in cooperation
with the International
4
No: 1 2012

Media Support IMS. The plan of
making each report was discussed
in detail, beginning with
analyzing parts of the supposition,
indicating the required
sources and the most important
questions which are asked to the
sources.
At the end of the workshop, the
participated NIRIJ members discussed
granting cash to the Iraqi
journalists who intend performing
investigative reports depending
on crucial ideas, supported
by documented facts; shed light
on a negative phenomenon
whose discovering might lead to
a positive change in the Iraqi
society.
NIRIJ is the first network for
investigative journalism in Iraq,
founded on the 9th of May, 2011
by several professional investiga-
tive journalists, which has been
working since then on providing
financial, editorial and advisory
support for the investigative Iraqi
journalists to perform detailed
investigative reports based on
searching for documented facts
and supported by variety of
sources who are strongly related
to the investigating topic.
The main mission of NIRIJ, in
addition to performing detailed
investigative reports, is improving
the skills of the Iraqi investigative
journalists and working on
spreading the culture of investigating
in the Iraqi journalism, to
be a regulatory device which
diagnose the faults and follow
financial and administrative corruption
cases, indicate deviations
and mistakes in the official and
the civil behavior and the violations
committed against the different
society segments in Iraq.
In this context, NIRIJ works on
helping the investigative Iraqi
journalists to choose detailed
investigative reports that deal
with financial and administrative
corruption, the community violations
against women, children
and the weak segments in a society
like Iraq which witnesses a
crucial transformation, in addition
to working on completing
the suppositions related to the
investigative journalists’ reports
and funding the reports such as
costs of translating documents,
transportation, accommodation,
laboratory tests, advices, printing,
communications and all
other requirements of a detailed
investigative report.
No: 1 2012 5

How to Get
NIRIJ Donation
The Network of Iraqi Reporters
for an Investigative Journalism
(NIRIJ) presents annually several
donations to the Iraqi journalists
who intend to perform detailed
investigative reports directly supervised
by NIRIJ.
If you are an Iraqi journalist and
work for an Iraqi, Arabic or international
media organization, or if
you are a freelance journalist
and aspire to perform a systematic
investigative report based on
a crucial idea, supported by
documented facts and shed light
on a negative phenomenon
whose disclosure may lead to a
positive change in the Iraqi society,
you can get a donation from
NIRIJ to perform your report
professionally.
Over the past period NIRIJ supported
investigative reports that
dealt with the causes behind
increasing the number of the
women who committed suicide
by burning themselves in Kurdistan
and the reasons behind the
governmental and civil authorities’
failure to put an end to this
dangerous phenomenon, NIRIJ
also supported an other report
that focused on the legal gaps of
the Iraqi Homeless Law which
cause in involving homeless people
in the armed groups, stealing
gangs and organized crime networks.
It also supported detailed
investigative reports in the different
Iraqi cities such as Baghdad ,
Mosul , Basra , Erbil and Sulaimanyah
in addition to continuous
support to other reports that
are being worked on in several
southern, northern and middle
provinces in Iraq .
The donation that NIRIJ grants
to the Iraqi journalists, in the
case it agrees on funding the
report, covers the costs of air
and ground transportation within
Iraq, accommodation, communication
and internet services,
translating the crucial documents
required for making the report,
costs of laboratory testing, costs
of accessing useful online data
resources, in addition to 500$ to
750$.
The journalist, who intends gaining
the donation, presents the
whole budget attached to the
application directed to NIRIJ for
accomplishing the report.
How to Get NIRIJ Donation
NIRIJ supports the reports that
include an innovative investigative
idea that interests the public,
the supposition presented to
NIRIJ need to be clear, with a
core that may be investigated.
NIRIJ does not accept reports
based on general ideas such as
(Drugs in Basra, Pollution in
Baghdad, Violation in Mosul,
Financial corruption of the Reconstruction
Contracts and Selling
Human Organs in Iraq), it
only accepts assumptions that
disclose a case which interests
the public, and in which the journalist
indicates the pillars of an
investigate report; an issue
(verb), the emitter (subject) and
the victims (object).
Those who apply for a donation
should have conducted initial
researches on their report subjects,
such as all published documents
and reports or contacting
required sources to make sure
that the report can be accomplished
and adopted by NIRIJ.
Subscription Application:-
Name:
Date of Birth and City:
Tel:
E-mail:
Media Organization:
Job Title:
Report Subject:
Information on the applicant’s
carrier, when did you
start working as a journalist,
what media organizations
did you work for, and what
do you do now:
What is the issue that you
want to investigate in your
report, what is your goal?
Have you obtained important
facts and information that
encouraged you to choose
that topic, what are they?
How will you perform the
report?
How much time do you need
to perform the report?
Will you need to move to
certain places to perform
your report, what are those
places?
Do you need translating
documents, laboratory testing
and distributing referendum
forms? Why?
Do you think you have
enough skills to perform the
report or you need to get
certain skills from NIRIJ to
perform it?
Please attach the following
to the donation application:
1. The report budget.
2. A written letter from the editor
in chief of your media organization
or any other media organization
that shows their commitment
to publish your report as
soon as it is completed.
3. CV.
nirij.2011@gmail.com
6
No: 1 2012

Children Indulging
in Iraqi Violence
to the Level
of Suicide
A report by:
Mayada Dawod (Milad
Al-Juburi )
Assa’ad and Omran are almost
the same age of eighteen. They
share a cell at the Juveniles’
prison in Baghdad, away from
their families that live in Dawrah,
south of the capital. Both boys
joined armed groups and participated
in bloody acts of violence
in 2006. What distinguishes them
is that they are members in opposing
groups that kill based on
identity.
Prison may be the best destiny
for the two boys. Hundreds of
their peers were killed in battles
or were blown to pieces in suicide
bombings for which they
were recruited by armed organizations.
Asa’ad Husam Eddin prefers to
stay in jail so that he does not
become subject to a tribal judgment
that condemns him to
death for participating in four
members of one family. During
his childhood, Asa’ad was known
by the name “Al-‘Allas”, a term in
Iraqi dialect describing children
recruited as informers for armed
groups. Among his duties was to
select a target and monitors its
movements so that the armed
group could abduct and execute
him.
According to his confessions,
Asa’ad was active in monitoring
people in his neighborhood, and
This investigative report won the second prize of Seymour
Hersh Prize for best investigative reports in the Arab World for
the year 2010. It was accomplished by Mayada Dawod (Milad
Al-Juburi ) and supervised by NIRIJ net’s general supervisor
Muhamad Al-Rubaiee, for the benefit of “broadcasters for an
investigative Arabic journalism (ARIJ)” net.
informing Al-Qa’eda elements
about their moves, in return for
$200 per person.
Omran Abbas has a similar record,
except that he used to
work for the opposing group. He
is spending a sentence of 15
years in jail after being convicted
of committing acts of violence in
Abu Dsheir area, one street from
Al-Daourah. Residents of the two
areas belong to two different
confessions. Abbas was fourteen
when he joined armed groups
opposing Al-Qa’eda. He participated
in acts of violence during
the peak of confessional violence
in 2006. Shortly before that, his
father was kidnapped by Al-
Qa’eda, and was later found beheaded
in the ‘no-man’s-land”
separating the two “fighting”
areas.
As an act of revenge for a lost
relative, or to follow in someone’s
footsteps, many boys
whom we met at the Juvenile
Prison, such as Nathem Jabbar,
Mahdi Hassan and Sa’doun,
and hundreds of others, fell victim
to the phenomenon of recruiting
children by armed
groups that emerged after the
battles of the spring and summer
of 2004 in Al-Fallujah and Al-
Najaf.
A number of armed groups
emerged in Iraq after those brutal
battles, and spread between
Sunni and Shi’ite affiliations.
Most of these organizations,
however, participated in battles
over time, but the major part
ended after the spring of 2008.
The most dangerous organization,
which continued practicing
violence with a steady methodology,
was Al-Qa’eda that concentrated
its operations after 2003
in Al-Anbar region. It then managed
to control a number of cities
and governorates such as
Salaheddin, Ninawa, South
Kirkuk, South Baghdad and
North Bael (see Link number 1 –
Map showing the spread of Al-
Qa’eda).
The phenomenon of recruiting
No: 1 2012 7

children by Al-Qa’eda developed
form training them in monitoring,
collection of information and
transferring messages among
combatants, to planting explosive
devices and participating in
killings, to carrying out suicide
bombings, in the peak of sectarian
violence between 2006 and
2007.
Suicide, Revenge and Kidnap
Before that, recruiting children in
suicide bombings was rare and
rather erratic. The first operation
was carried out by a child of ten
years in the fall of 2005, targeting
the chief of Kirkuk police
(250 kilometers north of Baghdad).
After about two months,
two children carried out two suicide
bombings against the
American forces in Al-Fallujah,
Al-Anbar province (110 kilometers
northwest of the capital, and
Al-Huwijeh of the Kirkuk governorate.
In the summer of 2008,
a child of ten years, disguised as
a peddler, followed one of the
most prominent leaders of Al-
Sahwah in Tarmiyyeh area,
Sheikh Emad Jassem, for three
consecutive days, after which he
succeeded in detonating himself
near the Sheikh, whose leg was
amputated as a result of the
explosion. In the same year, a
girl of thirteen carried out a suicide
bombing in Ba’quba, the
central city of Deyala governorate
(57 kilometers east of
Baghdad) resulting in the death
of a number of Al-Sahwah followers.
The military leader who investigated
that operation, as well as
a number of child suicide bombings
in Deyala, points out that
most operations carried out by
children are “revengeful” in nature
and mostly take place in
areas where Al-Qa’eda influence
has subsided in favor of Al-
Sahwah.
The Media official in Al-Anbar
police headquarters, however,
sees that “some suicide bombings
were not vengeful in nature.
The last of these operations
were carried out by two children,
one of whom had been sedated
and the other was mentally unstable.”
The two children were
fit with explosive belts and sent
to checkpoints. However, a mistake
in the timing of the explosive
belts enabled the security
forces to dismantle them, according
to the media official. He
further explains that “fitting explosive
belts around children’s
bodies is a tactic used by Al-
Qa’eda over the past
years.” Another method used
was to send closed explosive
packages by hand with children,
and to detonate them from a
distance the minute the children
are in close proximity to security
forces or when they board civilian
cars or arrive in markets.”
The father of the mentally deranged
suicide bomber child says
that his son Ghazi was kidnapped
from in front of the family house
in Al-Khaldiyyah area of Al-
Anbar, a former stronghold of Al-
Qa’eda. His fate was unknown
until he was found near the
checkpoint with an explosive belt
around his waist. Ghazi’s father
is now very worried because his
younger son was also kidnapped
at the beginning of last October,
and might be used in the same
manner unless he pays the ransom
the kidnappers demand.
Dirgham, a mongoloid child was
booby-trapped by elements from
Al-Qa’eda after he was tempted
to buy sweets from a shop near
a security center where elements
from the police force shop during
their break. The child was killed,
and with him a number of policemen
and shoppers. Despite this,
the child’s father refuses to criticize
Al-Qa’eda in fear that they
might return one day.
Fathers Fear Children
Fear from Al-Qa’eda’s revenge is
not restricted to Dirgham’s father,
but extends to many people
with whom this report-writer
talked. They refrained from telling
their experiences with the
process their children were recruited.
A high-ranking officer from Al-
Anbar says that sleeping Al-
Qa’eda cells become active during
certain periods, then go back
to sleep, which indicates that
risking the exposure of details
may not be liked by the organization,
and may mean paying
with lives. This officer tells the
story of three children who burnt
their father to death. The father
8
No: 1 2012

was a moderate religious man.
They placed him between old
rubber tires and set them on fire,
simply because he criticized Al-
Qa’eda.
We asked one of the fathers if he
had made any effort to prevent
his children from joining Al-
Qa’eda. He answered: “I lived for
years hesitating to take any step
such as this, afraid that they
may kill me if I went too
far.”Although the son left Iraq to
a neighboring country after the
defeats Al-Qa’eda received, the
father continues to be careful
that the son may one day return.
Faris Al-Obeidi summarizes
children’s motives in joining
armed groups in two words:
“poverty” and “revenge.”
An official in research at the Juveniles’
Prison, however, believes
that “unemployment and family
disintegration” are the main reasons,
in addition to some sort of
“ideological thought” that prevails
at home, as the first incubator
that attracts children to the
circle of violence. Iraq is “eligible
for its children to pursue violence,
because it lived for decades
in a state of conflict and
continuous wars.”
Fawwaz Ibrahim, the social researcher
relates this phenomenon
to the period preceding
2003; the date of the American
invasion of Baghdad. Years before
that date, “children, named
‘Saddam’s Cubs’ participated in
operations of killing and cutting
hands and tongues in many areas.
Militarization of children was
part of the militarization of society
which the last century witnessed.”
At that time, “Al-Tala’e
organization, which was part of
the Ba’ath party
used to recruit children in groups
affiliated with the authority, to
monitor the neighbor, street, the
school and even the home, reporting
periodically about anybody
suspected of opposing the
regime.”
The researcher connects between
the practices of the followers
of Al-Tala’e and the specialty
of most recruited children
in reporting to armed organizations
about all details going on in
their vicinity.
He is joined in this rhetoric the
researcher Al-Obaidi: “For a person
to be a hero in an ideological
army is something like a dream
that children have when living in
a society dominated by violence.”
Hence, Al-Obaidi sees
that “recruitment will not be difficult
in a society where children
boast about flaunting their
power, that starts with carrying
plastic toy weapons and forming
groups to launch imaginary attacks
from one street to another,
declaring allegiance to armed
groups that have a strong grip
on areas, attending their events
and military parades.”
Going Along with the Party
in Power
Ali Al-Massoudi, the activist specializing
in armed groups’
thought has documented a number
of the features of children
joining armed groups. He sees
that recruitment depends basically
on “the recruited child’s
environment”. In most cases, the
child gets carried away with the
prevailing beliefs prevailing in his
home, street and neighborhood
where he lives. Al-Massoudi divides
this phenomenon into four
levels: Information collection or
monitoring (less than ten years),
carrying firearms, participating in
guard duties and checkpoints (13
– 18 years) and getting involved
in violent operations such as
kidnapping, killing and participating
in street fights (15 – 18
years). The more dangerous
level, according to Al-Massoudi,
is carrying out suicide operations,
normally connected to Al-
Qa’eda organization.
The first level prevails in “areas
No: 1 2012 9

that are closed ideologically,
especially during the period of
confessional violence when
armed groups enjoyed the sympathy
of the area residents.”
Children grouping t
crossroads were active in informing
armed men about the arrival
of American troops, preparing to
detonate explosives near them.
One specialist at the Ministry of
Interior says that recruiting children
is not restricted to one
armed group and not the other,
“despite variation in the level of
their concentration.” This specialist
saw for himself large numbers
of children carrying arms at
the “Jund El-Sama’a (Soldiers of
Heaven) camp in the Zarka area,
13 kilometers north east of the
holy city of Al-Najaf, holy to
Shi’ite Muslims (160 kilometers
south of Baghdad), during confrontations
that took place between
them and Iraqi forces in
early 2007. But he believes that
the more dangerous organization
for children is Al-Qa’eda, which
established organizations specializing
in enticing children under
soft names like “birds of heaven,
youth of heaven and cubs of
heaven.”
The expert mentioned that the
“Birds of Heaven” organization,
which was active in Al-Anbar and
Deyala when Al-Qa’eda controlled
them was for the
“children of the leadership and
elements of Al-Qa’eda in
Iraq.” The Cubs and Children of
heaven organizations were used
to “lure children with certain
specifications that qualify them
to indulge in battles and carry
out suicide bombings.”Camps for
Brainwashing
After a raid in November of 2006
on a ‘hideout’ for Al-Qa’eda north
of Baghdad, the American forces
discovered an electronic storage
device that had information on
children’s sleeping cells, in addition
to details regarding recruiting
them and training them for
armed operations.
The Director of Operations at the
Ministry of Interior Colonel Abdul
Kareem Khalaf asserts that Al-
Qa’eda organization is “the major
party that depended on child
recruitment from poor families,
and those who were subjected to
intellectual changes towards
extremism through religious
training courses organized in
mosques without censorship.”
The most important areas where
Al-Qa’eda trained children on
armed operations is Al-
Mukhaiseh remote area, which
falls within the Humrain hills
band in Deyala governorate,
according to Colonel Khalaf.
“Hundreds of children from both
genders were exposed to brainwashing
and continuous training
under the supervision of experts
from Al-Qa’eda, some of whom
arrived from outside Iraq for this
purpose.”
According to Colonel Khalaf, recruitment
did not target poor
families and those transformed
to extremism only. There were
remnants from those who were
known as Saddam’s Cubs. These
form a large group that entered
continuous training camps until
2003.
The most dangerous children
who were involved in armed
operations and the most vicious
were the children and brothers
of activists in Al-Qa’eda. All
these, according to Colonel Khalaf,
were trained in areas with
winding roads and orchards with
thick trees and vegetation that
are difficult to access, in addition
to the remote areas extending
deep into the desert.
Child training camps spread in
areas under the control of Al-
Qa’eda for years. There are
camps in Deyala, Al-Anbar and
Al-Mada’en south of Baghdad, in
addition to border areas adjacent
to Syria in the west and Iran in
the east.
A New Generation of Al-Qa’eda
One of the former Al-Qa’eda
theorists told the report writer at
a detention center run by the
Ministry of Interior that recruiting
children “is carried out
A New Generation of Al-Qa’eda
One of Al-Qa’eda’s former theoreticians
tells the report writer
from his Interior Ministry prison
cell that the recruitment of children
is “done under the direct
supervision of Al-Qa’eda leaderships.”
The first step begins by
“encouraging the children to take
Quran memorization classes,”
especially those who have specific
characteristics, such a good
build and excessive obedience.
Hikmat adds: “We take
into consideration the family they
belong to, whether it is known
for radicalism or not. Then we
join them to groups older of age
to nourish them intellectually in
preparation for giving them assignments,
like moving cash and
publications for the organization’s
members.” After that,
“they are assigned to transport
explosive devices and sometimes
planting them in certain areas,
then we put them in armed operations
that sometimes require
them to engage in direct confrontations.”
One of the dissents of Al-Qa’eda
gives an expanded description of
the stages of building the children’s
networks by specialists in
Al-Qa’eda who succeeded in
brainwashing the brains of a
large number of children whose
fathers or brothers had been
killed. Abul Waleed is a nickname
that a man in his late forties
gave himself who previously
worked with Al-Qa’eda, then
moved to Al-Sahwah forces before
he ultimately abandoned
both and secluded himself in a
house he rented in a area on the
outreaches of southern Baghdad.
Abul Waleed says: “The
first cells specializing in child
10
No: 1 2012

ecruitment launched after the
battles of 2004 south of the capital
city and included nearly 100
children who were carefully selected
to ensure that they fulfill
dangerous duties, foremost suicide
bombings.”
Abul Waleed summarizes Al-
Qa’eda’s strategy for recruiting
this youth by saying that children
are registered in religious classes
that focus on “Quranic verses
and sayings by the Prophet that
encourage fighting the enemies,
the infidels and the renegades.”
After that, says Abul
Waleed, they are shown videos
of suicide operations previously
executed by the organization’s
members in Iraq and Afghanistan
against foreign forces. Experts
seek to convince the youth that
they can do this to preserve the
faith and that they will be heroes
of Islam and remembered by
future generations. This thought
in particular “was the obsession
that the experts use to influence
the thoughts of most of the
youth and ensures that the spirit
of bravery and courage is raised
within them.”
The majority of those selected
for the child recruitment cells,
Abul Waleed discloses, are the
offspring of Al-Qa’eda members
or who known for their hard-line
tendencies at an early
age. Some “begin the recruitment
stage with enthusiasm but
soon try to backtrack, and therefore
Al-Qa’eda is forced to make
them continue by threatening to
tell their parents or the authorities
about their participation in
the training or threaten to kill
them or liquidate their families if
they change their minds.”
The most dangerous, says Abul
Waleed, are “those that have lost
their parents at the hands of the
American or Iraqi forces or even
as a result of internal
strife.” These “do not need
much effort to be encouraged to
execute combat and even suicide
operations. It is enough to concentrate
on the idea that they
will be avenging their murdered
family if they execute suicide
operations.”
Child recruitment serves four
purposes:
-Ensuring that there are
new combatant generation that
expand the presence of the organization,
increase its power
and assault and make up for the
The Young Instead of the Old
A high level security source in Al-
Anbar province adds a fifth reason
that he says he had seen up
close and personal. The majority
of children’s suicide attacks were
deficit of combatants, which the directed at Al-Sahwah men,
organization suffered from after which means that Al-Qa’eda
losing the areas near Syria to Al- wanted to terrorize the Al-
Sahwah forces and the security
forces.
Sahwah men and tell them they
are “killed at the hands of their
- T a k i n g a d v a children.” n t a g e o f c h i l d r e n ’ s
easy movement and that the
security authorities do not pay
attention to them or doubt them
when they cross check points.
Researcher Faris Al-Obeidi confirms
what Abul Waleed says and
adds that Al-Qa’eda did not keep
the recruitment of children secret,
- t but h e rather m promoted e n them u m M a i n t a i n i n g
o f
suicide operations that kill more
people and give the organization
attention in the media, thus increasing
the terror it spreads.
and featured trainings on websites
and YouTube.
Al-Obeidi refers to a videotape of
children between 10-12 years of
- B r i n g i n m age o wearing r e black o clothes m b a and t a n t s b
promoting the idea that children
are braver than men who failed
to join Al-Qa’eda to fight for the
sake of God.
Abul Waleed states here that the
leader of Al-Qa’eda in Iraq, Abu
Mos’ab Al-Zarqawi, who was
killed in American air raid in mid
2006, addressed an audio message
chastising the men who did
not join the organization after a
woman executed a suicide operation
in Deyala (see link 2).
covering their faces with masks
as Al-Qa’eda members do, and
training on weapons, make-belief
kidnapping, breaking into a
house after climbing its
walls. The videotape was shown
extensively (see link 3) after Al-
Qa’eda lost much of its popularity
in its home environment, believes
Al-Obeidi, and after the
process of recruiting local combatants
became difficult and
bringing in foreign combatants
even more difficult because of
the control of the Iraqi forces on
most of the border line with
Syria.
The sheikh and speaker of one of
the mosques in the city of
Ramadi in the center of Al-Anbar
province pointed to a
“jurisprudence dispute about the
dividing line between childhood
and manhood”, and believed that
“this dispute helped Al-Qa’eda
No: 1 2012 11

penetrate into the minds of targeted
people and facilitated the
consideration of children’s recruitment
as a legitimate matter.”
The sheikh, who is considered
one of the leading moderate men
of religion in Al-Ramadi city, reminded
that Islam “banned the
use of children and women in
the execution of any acts that
anger God and their recruitment
for the purpose of executing
suicide actions that lead to the
killing of innocent people,
whether civilians or even policemen,
and it is prohibited.”
While religious scholars agree
that Jihad is a duty of every Muslim,
but it is “within conditions
specified in the Islamic Sharia
Law, most important of which
that it must be based on wrong
jurisprudence, such as rendering
another an apostate or deciding
that he has violated religion because
he disagreed on jurisprudence
issues, as Al-Qa’eda does
and which has rendered everyone
an apostate, including the
followers of the Sunni sects that
do not support it.”
The sheikh expresses regret that
hard-line ideas calling for killing
are spreading mostly in the rigid
tribal communities, where the
level of education is low and the
culture of violence is prolific,
unlike the moderate environment
that is considered strongholds for
moderate men of religion who
cannot guarantee the security of
their lives if they propose their
ideas outside of this environment.
The word “Jihad” captivated
the young boy, Yaser Thanoun,
and encouraged him to
work with Al-Qa’eda
His elder brother was killed in Al-
Fallujah battles in 2004. Yaser
completely believes that resisting
the occupation is a duty for
every Muslim, and says: “I did
not join Al-Qa’eda in search of
money, as some of my friends
have.” He settled for an income
of 70,000 to 100,000 Dinars
(around $80) to cover his expenses
after blowing up every
explosive or carrying out a combat
operation against the government
forces. After the death
of his combatant brother, Yaser
had to join the organization on a
full time basis and left his work
as a smith that was providing for
his family. “The money was not
my objective, but rather the Jihad
against the occupiers,” says
Yaser, who was captured after
he engaged in battle against
Iraqi police personnel in Fallujah
in 2008.
The situation is different for
Nuseir. His belief in the necessity
of Jihad was not the thing
that pushed him to join the
armed groups. His friends were
the ones that convinced him to
take part in the armed operations
with them under the command
of Al-Qa’eda.
Nuseir’s father spoke proudly
with a tone of sadness of his
son. After Nuseir trained to use
weapons and launch rockets, his
father says, “he participated in
the bombing of American forces
in Al-Mazra’a area in the east of
Fallujah, then the joint check
point at the city’s entrance.”
After that, Nuseir joined
the armed factions in battle in
the city, and was arrested in
2007 and was transported to
Boca prison. He remained in
prison for one year and a half
until he was released under the
general pardon. He was soon
killed by an unknown group
when he was walking in the city.
The bereaved father refuses to
talk about his son’s movements
after he got out of prison. Yet
he confirms that “he received
threats from groups that the
opponents of the group he belonged
to,” in an indication that
he was back with his initial
group.
The mourning father criticizes
“the government for releasing so
many of the prisoners before
they were able to reform them
and convince them to abandon
the violence.” He demands the
government to monitor “the
mosques which have become in
their majority lairs that attract
the youth.”
The responsibility of the
family
Senior Secretary General of the
Interior Ministry, Adnan Al-Asadi,
however, accuses the children’s
families of being the first to bring
harm to them because they left
them unobserved.
Al-Asadi says: “The boys who
got involved in armed groups
found the easy money and social
influence an earning worth the
risk by working with Al-Qa’eda
members.” Al-Asadi however
believes, and according to the
results of investigations with a
large number of the “Birds of
Heaven” children and “the boys
of heaven”, that the number of
suicide operations executed by
children is “small” compared to
other types of operations such as
“monitoring and logistical support
for the militants.”
The idea of killing, believes Al-
Asadi, “is no longer receiving
response from the children, especially
after the decline of the
influence of Al-Qa’eda’s and the
armed groups that have lost
their strongholds in Al-Anbar,
Deyala, Salaheddin, Ninawa and
areas south of Baghdad.”
Researcher Faris Al-Obeidi believes
that rehabilitating hundreds
of children who engaged in
militant work requires “a great
deal of social and government
12
No: 1 2012

effort and this is difficult to
achieve in view of the economic,
security and political instability in
Iraq.”
In the final outcome, these are
part of a mobile social system,
and if they do not have a sound
environment to help them integrate
in their societies, “they will
definitely go back to the armed
groups that had provided them
with a sense of belonging.”
Juvenile rehabilitation plans currently
adopted are not convincing
to the prison director, who
complains that the building cannot
accommodate “the large
number of juveniles, given that
the current building is a temporary
alternative for the original
prison that was overtaken by
refugees refusing so far to leave
it despite all official attempts.”
The juvenile prison building is
similar to an elementary
school. It is nothing more than a
yard surrounded by four prison
cells and a few small rooms for
the guards, as well as a caravan
for the prison director to do his
job.
The research unit chief in prison
that the lack of entertainment
facilities and training workshops
have not helped the prison staff
to lower the number of medical
cases that usually accompany
imprisonment, such as the depression
that many prisoners
suffer from because they feel
neglected by their own families.
The research chief believes that
terrorism prisoners are inherently
“good” people, but have been
exploited and taken advantage of
because of their difficult life conditions.
A field study by a researcher in
the Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs indicates that family disintegration
is responsible for half
of the reasons that lead children’s
integration in registered
organizations.
Field study shows the reasons
behind children joining
armed groups.
”Family disintegration was the
cause that led to the recruitment
of 47% of child prisoners into
armed groups.” The researcher
attributes this to their residing
outside the family home with
relatives or friends or in workplaces.
The study found that
63% of those convicted of terrorism
have engaged in armed work
under influence of friends.
The study, which was based on a
sample of 80 prisoners convicted
of terrorism according to Article
4, indicates that murder represents
56% of the types of crimes
committed by children, while
18% of the sample planted and
exploded explosive devices, and
15% executed kidnappings.
The low educational level was
prevalent among the sample.
Half of them did not pass
elementary education, and 55%
of the sample justified their engagement
in armed operation
with their belief in the resistance.
Meanwhile, political convictions
and affiliations were the
cause of 28% joining the armed
groups.
More than half of the children
convicted of terrorism
according to Article 4 and
are
imprisoned in the juvenile prison
were sentence to more than ten
years. These are “major” sentences,
believes the researcher
who criticizes the fact the judges
rely on Law number 111 for
1996, which places terrorism
crimes under the definition of
crimes, stipulating sentences to
be five or more years.
Indications however show that
the rate of children’s engagement
in armed groups receded a
great deal in the past two years
because of improving security
conditions in many areas that
were previously considered “hot
zones.”
This improvement, according to
researcher Faris Al-Obeidi, “led
to economic movement in the
country, which in turn contributed
to the movement of the
majority of youth towards profitable
professions and abandoning
armed organizations where the
work has become dangerous
with the increase of the power of
security forces. Moreover, the
ideas on which the armed groups
were based “receded in a major
way and do not have a standing
except with religious hardliners.”
Interior Minister Jawad Al-Bolani
confirms that Al-Qa’eda’s influence
in Iraq was “broken and it
has lost control over its old
strongholds, which put it in a
critical situation that prevents
from continuing to recruit children
in the manner it has been
doing in past years.” The stage
of recruiting children, Al-Bolani
says, “is over now, and although
there are a few sleeper cells, the
intelligence efforts will continue
to pursue them and eliminate
them in the end, sooner or
later.”
Researchers Al-Obeidi, Fawwaz
Ibrahim, and Al-Massoudi, along
with the research chief at the
juvenile prison and the researcher
in the Labor Ministry,
believe that the receding phenomenon
of child recruitment is
not the end of the story, and
that intelligence efforts, no matter
how strong it is, will not be
able to eliminate this phenomenon
completely. There is always
a chance for it to come back if
rehabilitation plans that can fortify
children and protect them
against extremist thinking, which
continues to look for an opportunity
to prevail once again in Iraq,
are not implemented.
No: 1 2012 13

Female genital
mutilation in
Kurdistan
Painful stories in search
for happy endings
Report by:
Dlovan Barwari
Nazeen was happy with the doll
her mother bought her on the
way to a party at the neighbor’s
house. But she felt terrified when
she found herself in a dark room
full of women. Within minutes,
an old woman spread her little
legs and removed part of her
clitoris, which is the main female
sexual organ, with an old razor
blade.
This report won Seymour Hersh Prize as the best investigative
report in the Arab World for the year 2010. It also won the
First Prize of universal Lorenzo Natali journalism competition.
The report is written by Dlovan Berwari, member of NIRIJ net
and supervised by Muhamad Al- Rubaiee general supervisor of
NIRIJ net, in cooperation with Mr. Zuhair Al-Jazairy and Mr.
Saad Hattar with leading Arab investigative journalism net
“broadcasters for an investigative Arabic journalism (ARIJ)”.
This story happened in 1985,
when snow melted on Kiwa Rash
Mountain slopes in Rania district
131 kilometers northeast of al-
Sulaymaniyah. This is the season
when female genital mutilation
starts in the villages and
cities of Kurdistan. It is the
spring of each season.
The memories of this dark night
continue to haunt Nazeen. She
wakes up every day with a nightmare
as she remembers the
blood and fear. Today, she is
one of the women fighting to
end this practice.
“Five years ago, I got married
but I feel that I am not fulfilling
my duties as a wife. I feel that
there is something wrong in our
relationship and I am in constant
pain; I am living with a broken
heart,” said 30-year-old Nazeen.
“What they did to me as a human
being is a grave crime, and
we should all work together to
stop these crimes,” she added. I
will never allow this practice if
god gives me children in the
future.”
Nazeen’s tragedy is similar to
that suffered by 16-year-old
Soran. She, too, underwent a
similar operation with a razor
blade, together with a number of
girls on the same day. She was 5
years old. Her mother took her
to visit the neighbors, and there
were other young girls waiting to
go into the circumcision room.
Two women held her legs and a
third one operated. She also
remembers the huge pain she
felt in that room.
When the woman washed the
wound with water and salt and
put some ashes on it to end the
bleeding, her mother whispered
in her ear: “Now you have become
a bride and you are now
the prettiest girl ever.”
Mazkeen’s mother always urges
her daughter not to show that
she is in pain during her period,
especially when her father and
brothers are in the house.
While it is men who order the
circumcision, they insist that
rituals should be made in complete
secrecy.
Unlike with males, female circumcision
rituals are always
done in a dark room and without
any noise. Young girls are given
cheap dolls or candies to encourage
them to enter the room
where a razor blade is waiting
for them.
Nazeen, Soran and Mazkeen’s
stories were similar to those told
about 89 out of 139 female students
who study in the Kolstan
secondary school in Rania district,
according to surveys conducted
by the German “Valley”
Organization in September 2007
and May 2008.
Law experts and women's rights
activists attribute the continuation
of this phenomenon to authorities’
fear to confront religious
extremists and those who
14
No: 1 2012

In 2007, the first discussion of
the draft law on domestic violence
was supposed to be completed.
At that time, the
women's rights defense committee
has added four points to the
draft law related to female genital
mutilation. More than 10
deputies out of a total of 105
members forming the Kurdistan
parliament signed the draft law.
However, when the law was to
be voted in the parliament, MPs
decided to pass the law to spesupport
such practices because
they have misconceptions about
religion and they mix between
traditions and Islam.
Abdul-Karim Sheikh Bizini, a researcher,
attributes “this phenomenon
to the wide spread of
religiosity in Kurdistan after the
1991uprising.” Religious movements
after this date have been
able to openly practice their activities
without any fear from the
former regime. “Religious movements
have significantly spread
in villages and remote areas
away from the centers of cities
and they have introduced rituals,
which these villages and cities
have abandoned decades ago
such as female genital mutilation.”
According to Bizini, the government
and the two major parties
in Kurdistan are reluctant to react
because the religious institution
and tribal rules have become
deep rooted in the political structures.
“The government alone, without
the help of religious and tribal
institutions, is unable to put an
end to any negative phenomenon
with religious or tribal
roots,” he said adding that “the
political system has a network of
complex relations with religious
and tribal institutions and that
the FGM phenomenon is associated
with these two together.”
While he excludes the possibility
of government complicity with
the conservative class, Bizini
stresses that “the government is
unable to enter into direct confrontation
with this class at this
particular stage.”
State and religion
The FGM phenomenon is considered
a religious ritual associated
with “purity.” But this investigative
report has been able to
prove that it is based on tribal
rules and the keenness of Kurdish
families to end sexual desires
among girls from an early age to
prevent them from having sex
outside of marriage, regardless
of the immediate health, emotional
and psychological risks as
well as subsequent damage
which girls may suffer.
The government hasn’t taken
any clear position with regard to
this phenomenon despite the
many demands made by MPs
and civil society organizations.
And thus, all attempts to touch
on this issue have not been successful.
No: 1 2012 15

cialized committees!
Until now, Bakhshan Zankana, a
former MP, does not know the
“real reason that made MPs betray
the women’s rights defense
committee and why they withdrew
their signatures from the
bill.” She said that “the law was
not passed because of special
circumstances within the parliament,”
without specifying these
circumstances. When the law
was resubmitted, the government
drafted a new one and
submitted it to the parliament. It
was submitted when the legislative
elections were about to take
place. At that time, the parliament
eligibility to pass laws was
raised.
Ever since then, Zankana does
not know what has happened to
the draft law. But she is not optimistic.
“Before, there was a
human rights ministry and a
number of specialized committees
to defend women’s rights.
Now, there is no women’s ministry
and the women’s rights defense
committee is ineffective.
Until now, it hasn’t finished any
draft law,” said Zankana.
Kasha Dar Haffeed, the head of
the women's rights committee in
the current parliament, does not
see that things will be different
in the new parliament. “MPS still
refuse to discuss the domestic
violence law which includes articles
related to FGM because they
consider that FGM is not phenomenon
in Kurdistan,” she said.
Women are the worst enemies
of women ..
There are others who even feel
shy to talk about FGM, said Dara.
One of the female MPs refuses to
pass a law that bans FGM because
she believes that this practice
prevents vice in the society.
Dara, a former MP, hopes that
the current parliament discusses
the draft domestic violence law
among the other 51 laws to be
discussed during the current
session. According to Dara, the
law in itself will not be enough to
address the FGM problem if
there is no government support
to it and if there are no real intentions
to enforce the law.
Amira Hassan, a judge and al-
Sulaymaniyah court deputy
prosecutor general, called upon
the authorities to pass an integrated
law which contains clear
provision that criminalize FGM to
deter midwives and doctors from
practicing FGM and to even deter
girls’ families from subjecting
their daughters to such operations.
She also said that there
should be guarantees for the
enforcement of the law.
Is FGM a phenomenon or is it
mere isolated cases?
Surveys of the German “Valley”
organization revealed that 61
percent of the girls studying at
the Kolistan secondary school
(the land of roses) have undergone
this operation. However,
this percentage is very low compared
to the percentages in
other schools in the Rania district.
The percentage of FGM among
students in the Kiwa Rash School
has reached 88, in the Darwazi,
92 and in the Kaznak, Hareem,
Kassen, Rashu Shambiri and
Haywa high schools this percentage
has reached 100.
The surveys which were conducted
in 700 villages and districts
in Iraq’s Kurdistan, with a
population of 6 million, revealed
that 72 percent of the selected
samples have undergone FGM
with a percentage reachin to
77.9 percent in al-Sulaymaniyah
province and up to 81.2% in
Karmayan district. However, this
percent has dropped to 63 percent
in the villages of Erbil, the
biggest city in the Kurdistan region.
But, government institutions and
religious bodies say that these
ratios are exaggerated to a great
extent, because they were conducted
in specific areas where
there is a spread of this phenomenon,
and there was a generalization
of results back to the
population.
Therefore, these institutions and
bodies refuse to deal with FGM
as a “phenomenon” and they
consider that there are only
some isolated cases of FGM.
The percentage of FGM is highest
in the Rania and Karmayan
district because tribal traditions
are deeply rooted in these areas
specialy among the Bashdar,
Bardashami, Mir Odaly and
Mankur tribes.
FGM prevalence areas
FGM is mostly practiced in the
Karmayan district and along a
horizontal line extending towards
Iran’s borders passing through
al-Sulaimaniyah and reaching
Rania district and Soran in the
Erbil province. Historically, FGM
has been practiced in the different
areas of al-Sulaymaniyah
province and in its center.
In Soran, FGM spreads over a
vertical line from Rania to Erbil
to reach its outskirts near Mosul.
However, this habit has started
to disappear in some of Erbil’s
areas and other popular areas.
In general, genital mutilation is
not widely practiced in cities but
is still common in rural areas.
Ronak Faraj, a researcher, said
that “there is a misconception
among people in the villages
which we have visited. People
consider FGM as part of Islam’s
teachings.” She added that one
of the men told her that he will
keep on encouraging FGM in his
village until he hears from a
cleric that there should be an
end to such a practice.
Despite the ethnic and religious
factors in common, there are still
geographic and social dissimilarities
with regard to the practice of
FGM. In the Bahdinan district,
which includes parts of Dahuk
and Erbil, FGM is not commonly
practiced.
Ronak Faraj, said that “FGM is a
phenomenon which is widely
practiced in areas of Soran
reaching to Qandeel near Aqra
and it ends at the borders of the
river which separates Soran district
from Bahdinan, the line
which separates families who
16
No: 1 2012

Ronak Faraj, who is specialized
in the field of female genital mutilation,
for example, stressed
the role of religion in curbing the
phenomenon. She said that the
Tarakhan tribe which lives in the
Karmayan area, where the FGM
is commonly practiced, has not
witnessed any FGM since a decade
because of a fatwa issued by
Sheikh Muhammad banning
FGM. In other areas, the practice
of FGM has become symbolic.
Girls let a knife fall from
the top of their dresses and ask
God to keep them pure. This
also was a result of a fatwa ispractice
FGM as a religious obligation
and those who know
nothing about this ritual.”
Even in the same tribe, there are
those who practice FGM and
those who don’t. For example,
the Sorj tribe which lives on the
two banks of the river is divided
between those who practice FGM
and those who don’t.
Sexual dysfunction or a small
wound
Mazkeen is one of the Kolstan
secondary school students in the
Rania district. She is one of the
girls who have undergone FGM
together with many other female
students. Until today, she still
FGM past and present methods
Mahrous has practiced FGM for
more than 60 years. She gave a
comparison between how FGM
has been practiced in the past
and how it is being practiced
nowadays. In the past, a razor
blade with a handle was used in
the operation and then the
wound area was cleaned with
water, salt and ashes to stop the
bleeding. Now, the wound area
is cleaned with microchrome and
medical dressing.
Mahrous does not like to use
local anesthesia drugs like other
midwives. She believes that the
Mohammad instructed Umm Atiyat
to (induce a wound but without
inducing a damage).
Spokesman for the federation of
clerics, the umbrella organization
of the jurisprudence commission,
spoke about medical reports
which have proved that
FGM is useful and carries no
risks. However, he added that,
“I am personally against it. The
jurisprudence commission wants
to see an end to all kinds of FGM
and it has issued a fatwa considering
FGM against the values of
Islam.”
Women organizations’ activists
believe that this fatwa is incomplete
and they want clerics to
completely ban FGM instead of
suffers acute pain every month
when she gets her period and
she also suffers a chronic pain in
the pelvic area due to the damage
done during the operation.
In interviews with circumcisers,
girls who underwent the operation,
clergy and doctors, the author
of this investigative report
noticed that there are differences
in the perception of FGM. While
some consider it a mere small
wound, others are aware of its
long-term impact.
Civil society orgnizations say that
it causes sexual dysfunction
while article 412 of the Iraqi
Penal Code, penalizes any person
who “mutilate human organs for
the purpose of inducing damage
and distortion.”
use of anesthesia may cause
problems for girls. According to
Mahrous, the ideal age for performing
FGM is 5-10. However,
she said that some older women
in their fifties come to her before
the Hajj and ask her to perform
the operation.
Religion, traditions and
medicine
Clerics, such as the spokesman
for the federation of clerics in
Kurdistan, Sheikh Jaafar Kuan,
stresses that “FGM is an operation
which removes a small and
secondary part from a woman’s
gentile.” They say that health
risks occur because of mistakes
in performing the FGM operations.
In the Hadeeth there is a
mention of FGM when Prophet
giving families the right to decide
whether they want their daughters
to undergo such operations
or not.
No: 1 2012 17

sued by a cleric who said that
FGM is not a religious obligation.
Faraj has noted that the rate of
FGM has doubled in 2005 in
some villages but started to decrease
afterwards. Out of 53
surveyed villages by the researcher
in 2005, only 13 new
girls were subjected to FGM operations.
According to Faraj, the
decrease is a result of the wide
awareness campaigns conducted
by civil society organizations.
Other clerics assert that FGM “is
a religious duty without which
women cannot become pure.”
The also say that “all rituals
practiced by women who havn’t
had the FGM operation are not
accepted by God.”
This belief has its echoes in a
conservative society. Sixty-oneyear-old
Umm Daleer, prides
herself saying that her 4 daughters
have undergone FGM operations.
She added that she was
keen to make her sons marry
women who have undergone
similar operations. “FGM is part
of our Islam. We should obey
the Islam teachings by performing
FGM.”
Umm Nazeen, the young girl
whose story was told at the beginning
of this report, shares
with Umm Daleer the same perception.
For her, FGM is a religious
obligation. According to
Umm Nazeen, “it is forbidden to
eat food cooked by a girl who
has not undergove the FGM operation.”
FGM and traditions
Stressing that it is a religious
obligation, Barikhan, a grandmother,
said that “last year all
her granddaughters have undergone
the FGM operation.” She
added that “we have inherited
this tradition from our fathers
and grandfathers. We have lived
our lives without problems. Girls
used to grow up and marry without
any problems. Nothing has
changed since then.”
Dr. Shlair Faeq Ghareeb, the
head of the maternity hospital, is
against FGM because it has
health as well as psychological
impact on women.
“The operation involves cutting a
very sensitive part of the gentile.
It is not a secondary part as is
the case in males’ circumcision
operations.”
She said that she has treated a
number of girls who were subjected
to FGM operations by midwives
who are not specialized in
this filed.
“Bleeding in most cases becomes
chronic inflammation because a
big part of the gentile is cut off
and sometimes more parts are
removed because those who
practice these operations are not
specialists in this field.”
Hypoactive sexual desire
disorder
In addition to the physical damage,
the cutting of the clitoris
leads to imbalance in the reproductive
system functions because
this part is the most sensitive
one and it is the part responsible
for sexual desire in
women.
Kilas Abdallah, a professor of
psychology at the University of
Sulaymaniyah, said mutilated
females feel “distorted” and try
to hide the pain when they practice
sex, give birth or when they
have their monthly menstrual
cycle.
From the cases in which Kilas
has studied at the psychiatric
care center, she concluded that
girls who have undergone FGM
have deep concerns that their
husbands may abandon them.
They also fear that they will not
have a successful marriage because
of their sexual disorders.
Twenty four-year-old Fayan lived
her teenaging years thinking that
she is more of a man than of a
woman. “I spent the whole university
years avoiding talking
about any subject which relates
to women’s feelings towards
men,” she said. During the
graduation year, she fell in love
with a colleague two years older
than she. But, she quickly escaped
and abandoned the relation
because “I felt like I am
more of a man than of a woman
and because I suffer from sexual
disorders.” Now, she spends
most of her time in teaching. “I
don’t think of marriage any more
because I am sure that my marriage
will not be a successful
one. I feel that I suffer from
sexual fridgidity.”
Forty two-year-old Banar has
been visiting a psychological
rehabilitation center for two
years because of the tensed
marriage life that she is living.
Her husband always accuses her
that she lacks the desire for sexual
activity. And she has suffered
a lot because her husband always
tells her that she is a
woman with no feelings. Eventually,
Banar’s husband got married
again to one of his relatives.
After that he rarely tried to see
her. Now he does not see her at
all. He only sends her some
money to cover her expenses
and those of her two children.
The records of the center are full
of such similar stories.
Divorce records in three personal
status courts in al-Sulaymaniyah
indicate that there is some 1,000
divorce cases every year. A big
number of these divorce cases is
a result of lack of harmony in
bed. However, records do not
mention the reason for this lack
of harmony and whether men or
women are responsible for it.
Judge Amira Hassan, deputy
prosecutor of al-Sulaymaniyah
Court, confirms that there is an
illogical increase in the number
of such cases. “Unfortunately,
there are no accurate statistics,”
she said.
Upon checking available records,
the judge did not find any FGM
complaints because there is no
law which crimilizes those who
perform FGM.
Article 412 of the Iraqi Penal
Code criminalizes “human mutilation
for the purpose of abuse
and distortion.” This article hasn’t
been applied so far against
any person who has practiced
FGM.
The reason for this, according to
Judge Hassan, is that the complaint
affects the family of the
victim, and of course “there is no
18
No: 1 2012

one who is ready to file a complaint
against his own family.”
Men’s opinion
Among men, there is confusion
between customs and religion.
According to 16-year-old
Suleiman Muhsen, a Kurdish
worker, FGM “purifies women
and prevent them from evil
deeds that have become widely
spread these days.”
This deep-rooted belief that FGM
is a religious obligation makes it
difficult to end the practice, even
if a law is passed, without the
support of the religious institution
which has strong influence
on people in Kurdistan.
The religious establishment,
criticized the position of the
clergy who only issued a light
fatwa banning FGM. He said
that “it would have been better
to refer to the Azhar fatwa instead
of issuing a new one.”
Clerics in Kurdistan have avoided
the prohibition of FGM because
they don’t want to confront the
prevailing traditions.
by the health ministry and the
religious institution stress that
FGM is not a religious obligation.
The representative of the ministry
of awqaf explains this to people
and the health ministry explains
the health repercussions
of this ritual. Civil society organizations,
for their part, spread
awareness among people on the
importance of abandoning such
rituals.
This joint campaign has started
to have its impact on people and
was able to reduce the number
those who practice FGM regardless
whether it is a phenomenon
or only isolated cases according
to official and religious institutions.
The government’s reluctance to
which has lots of authority, is
reluctant to issue a fatwa against
FGM despite the fact that it is
well aware that what is going on
is against Islam’s teachings.
Those who are against FGM usually
resort to the fatwa issued by
al-Azhar, which has banned FGM
and demand the issuance of laws
which criminalize such practices.
The official spokesman for the
Ministry of Endowments in Kurdistan,
Rowan Naqshbandi, believes
that “FGM is against the
teaching of Islam and that it is
violence committed against a big
part of the society, the women.”
He said that “there is no mention
of FGM in the Quran.”
Falah Murad Khan, the head of
the “Valley” Organization in Iraq,
Kawan, the spokesman of the
federation of scholars, said,
“religious institutions cannot hold
any person who violates the religious
fatwa responsible for such
violation. This is why they gave
the government the authority to
ban FGM.” Kawan called upon
the health ministry to issue a
report that highlights the negative
effects of FGM. “If such a
report is issued together with the
fatwa, there will be an end to
this phenomenon,” he said.
Health and religion
However, the Ministry of Health
does not see that there is a need
to issue such a report, according
to the official ministry’s spokesman,
Dr. Ahmed Khales Qader
Ahmed. He stressed that the
ministry has been spreading
awareness among people on the
health risks of FGM through joint
campaigns and media programmes.
“It is enough to explain
to people the dangers of
FGM,” he said.
The joint campaign implemented
enter into confrontation with
those who practice FGM is the
reason behind the inability to
end this phenomenon despite
the fact that there are many
prominent personalities, close to
high-ranking officials, who advocate
the end of family violence,
including FGM.
Sheikh Bizini said that Ronak
Raouf, the mother of Barham
Saleh, the prime minister, is
among the most prominent activists
against FGM. So is the wife
of the former prime minister,
Najirvan Barazani, and the
daughter of Masoud Barazani,
the president of Kurdistan Region.
No: 1 2012 19

10 tips
for investigating corruption
by Don Ray, Media Helping Media
Stories plotting the geometry of bribery, determining the currency of influence, documenting the paper trail, dealing with
threats and retaliation and knowing the obstacles within - just some of Don Ray's tips for understanding the power of corruption.
He says the task is to find the visible results of an often invisible force.
Investigative journalist, international trainer and media consultant, Ray has offered his top 10 tips for investigating corruption.
The tips, reproduced below, are the framework for some of the training modules he offers worldwide.
1: Bottom up approach
Essential for identifying the results of corruption and
the fast-track pathway to the top levels - the evidence
is always visible at the street level.
2: Plotting the geometry of bribery and influence
Corruption always involves more than one person or
point or a simple line between two entities. Understanding
the flow of bribery, influence and extortion
requires mapping the triangles, trapezoids, pentagons,
etc., of relationships between the parties.
3: Developing and protecting essential sources
They are out there wishing they could find someone
to trust with their information. Journalist must learn
that the seduction process involves creating maximum
trust, a fertile environment of factual verification
and an understanding of the intrinsic rewards
that sources require.
4: Determining the currency of the influence
The more sophisticated the laws and enforcement,
the more sophisticated are the vehicles of bribery.
It’s rarely only money that changes hands. Journalists
must learn to follow the trails of property, promotion,
protection, privilege, payola and employment
(of even distant family members).
5: Documenting the paper trail
Public records are essential, but alone they rarely map
the complete picture. They’re an essential beginning.
They can provide subtle, telltale indications of the other
documents or the people who can fill in the blanks.
6: Obstacles from within
Journalists in every country will encounter a certain
amount of resistance from within their own media
outlet. Unfortunately, the owners and managers of
newspapers and radio/television stations and networks
are either on the fringes of organized crime
and corruption or they are card-carrying players.
These situations require great awareness and
delicate planning.
7: Getting it on the record
More than any other area of reporting, corruption
investigations require unending verification and
cross-checking. Reporters are easy targets of officials
and operatives who are bent on using, manipulating
or discrediting reporters. This is no
place for "wishful authentication."
8: Teaming up with trusted allies
There are countless ways of tapping into existing
investigations and teaming up with groups or individuals
who have already gathered valuable information.
The Internet provides reporters with a
worldwide network of experts and potential allies.
Plus there are local organizations who are already
investigating the people and organizations you’ll
encounter.
9: Dealing with threats and retaliation
This is not a line of work for everyone. Journalists
must always be aware of how vulnerable they and
their family members are. It’s essential to know
how to respond quickly and directly to threats -
without throwing in the towel or immediately going
into deep hiding.
10: Making the story relevant to the readers
and viewer
Reporters tend to want to write about the elite, for
the elite. The stories must, of course, zero in on
the players at the top, but they must address the
victims and accomplices at every level. In the end,
the stories must be about people and they must
paint pictures of the visible results of this often
invisible force.
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No: 1 2012

No: 1 2012 21