In Heseke, a 13-year-old girl was executed by family members because she refused to agree to a forced marriage with her cousin. The crime is causing horror in the autonomous regions of northern and eastern Syria and is driving women into the streets.
The murder of a thirteen-year-old girl in Heseke has sparked horror in northern and eastern Syria. Throughout the autonomous regions, outrage over the act drove angry women onto the streets. Thousands had previously expressed their anger on digital networks.
The name of the murdered girl is Eida Al-Hamoudi Al-Saeedo. On July 1, she was led by about two dozen men to a ruined neighborhood on the outskirts of the southern district of Xiwêran (Gweiran) and shot dead. Among those involved were reportedly at least one brother and the girl's cousin, to whom she was apparently to be forcibly married. Who fired the fatal shots is currently under investigation.
Eida Al-Hamoudi Al-Saeedo had refused to agree to the "child marriage" and tried to flee. "Unfortunately, she did not succeed in this," said the umbrella organization of the women's movement in northeastern Syria, Kongreya Star. The escape of the perpetrators made all the more furious. A manhunt is underway for them as well as for the girl's father, who allegedly ordered the "murder for the honor of the patriarchy." Meanwhile, the women's movement has announced it will "go to the barricades." Protests are taking place in numerous cities and are still expanding.
Video of the crime
Images from a video that the perpetrators circulated on the Internet after the heinous crime show Eida Al-Hamoudi Al-Saeedo being dragged by several men to what later became the crime scene. In front of a ruined house, the crying girl is shot. The petite body sinks to the ground and begins to twitch. One of the men shouts in Arabic: "In the head, in the head". The perpetrator then points his rifle at the girl's head and pulls the trigger again.
Women demand sentencing based on women's laws
Women's organizations, associations and initiatives in North and East Syria have called on the security authorities of the autonomous region, following this femicide, to provide better protection for children and to punish the killers of Eida Al-Hamoudi Al-Saeedo on the basis of the Women's Law. Article 17 of the Women's Law of North and East Syria provides for life imprisonment in cases of femicide intended to restore the so-called "honor of the family." Helpers face prison sentences of between three and nine years.
