Kawthar Bashar al-Husayjawi, a 15-year-old girl, was killed by her family in Iraq after refusing to marry her cousin. A female relative recounts the horrifying events and the celebration that followed.
The Murder
The men of the tribe threw Kawthar into a pit after killing her with 10 bullets and splitting her head with an axe. Her family then danced in the streets to celebrate her death.
Background
Kawthar lived in al-Nahrawan, Baghdad. She was taken out of school at age 13 and forced to marry an older alcoholic. After a year of abuse, she fled home, where she was placed under house arrest and pressured to return to her husband. She obtained a divorce in late 2025.
Soon after, her cousin, recently released from prison, asked for her hand in marriage. Kawthar refused because he was involved in drugs and alcohol. Her family ignored her wishes, adhering to the custom that a man's word overrides a girl's refusal.
The Escape and Abduction
In early May, Kawthar fled home with only her clothes and head covering. A neighbor abducted her for three days, subjecting her to undisclosed horrors. Despite surveillance footage showing she was dragged, her family refused to believe her.
Her father, uncle, and fiancé interrogated her before taking her to an open area on Baghdad's outskirts. The relative who wrote this account imagines Kawthar's terror in that car with the men who should have protected her.
Lack of Justice
Social media showed videos of tribe members dancing at her murder. The police allegedly asked for a bribe to claim she was kidnapped. Her body was moved multiple times, without proper burial rites.
The relative and other women in the family sent evidence to media outlets, fearing the case would be buried like countless others. A lawyer may take the case, and her brother might confess as the sole perpetrator to close it as an honor killing.
Legal Context
Iraqi law does not explicitly mention honor killings but offers mitigating excuses, with imprisonment up to three years for killing a wife or female relative caught in adultery. Such crimes are often treated as family incidents.
New laws permitting marriage for children as young as nine are terrifying. A child pulled from school and forced into marriage becomes more vulnerable to violence and unable to protect herself.
