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A
memorial and public meeting took place in Acton Town, London, to
celebrate the life of the 16 year-old-girl from the Kurdish
community who was killed by her father in October last year. Many
representatives of women’s rights organisations and Middle Eastern
community members attended the ceremony at Greenford Park Cemetery
in the afternoon of 21st October.
Many bunches of flowers rest on Heshu’s grave, many women placed
candles, and there were also two colour photos illustrating Heshu’s
youth. Many men and women in turn put down red flowers. Sky TV
filmed the whole ceremony.
Sawsan Salim, the coordinator of the Campaign against Honour
Killing, addressed the attendance “we will sustain our campaign to
prevent any other tragedy happening for women in our community”.
At 4.00pm the public meeting started. Diana Namie and Sawsan Salim
opened the meeting, which started with one minute’s silence in
respect for Heshu.
After the organisers explained the aim of the meeting, Diana read
the press release which expressed the joint voices of Middle Eastern
and Asian communities, among them the Kurdistan Refugee Women’s
Organisation, Southall Black Sisters, Middle East Centre for Women’s
Rights, Kurdish Women’s Organisation, Iranian and Kurdish Women’s
Rights Project, Refugee Women’s Association, Committee to Defend
Women’s Rights in the Middle East and Kurdish Women Action Against
Honour Killings.
The audience then had a chance to speak. Detective Hyatt was
welcomed to the meeting to address the audience about the
investigation. Hyatt thanked women’s organisations for taking an
active part in reaching the truth. He answered many questions raised
by the audience regarding the police’s plans to end honour killings.
Women’s rights activists from many organisations took an active part
in discussions on this issue, suggesting many valuable ideas to end
these crimes. Among them the speakers emphasised the importance of
the whole community in tackling this issue, imploring schools to
open their doors for girls who are threatened by their families. It
was also suggested that a hotline be opened for potential victims,
girls and women who have been threatened with death as Heshu was. It
is important to reach out to the wider community to raise awareness
about women’s rights as human rights.
Many participants pointed to the importance of non religious
education, demanding secular education based on civil and
humanitarian values, recognising human rights for women and the
university of women’s rights.
The Campaign against Honour Killling
Contact details: Sawsan Salim. Tel: 020 7263 1027 or 07748851125
E-mail:
krwo_org@yahoo.com
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