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DAUGHTERS' ANGUISH AT FUNERAL OF MOTHER KILLED BY PRIVATE GUARDS
Sources: Iraqi Government; UNHCR
The Times
October 11, 2007
Sarmad al-Waali in Baghdad and Deborah Haynes in Baghdad
Three Christian sisters, beating their mother's coffin in grief,
wailed and hugged each other at her funeral in Baghdad yesterday
as their rapidly shrinking religious community vented anger at the
foreign security guards who killed her.
Marou Awanis, a part-time taxi driver, and one of her women passengers
became the latest victims to die at the hands of a foreign private
security team in Iraq after they were shot dead in the centre of the
capital on Tuesday.
Both the women were Armenian Christians. Their deaths stunned their
minority religious sect, which has seen its numbers in Iraq fall by
more than a half, to 10,000, since the invasion of March 2003.
The killings also heightened a sense of outrage towards private
security companies, in particular Blackwater, which many people regard
as a private army that acts with impunity.
Unity Resources Group, an Australian security outfit based in Dubai,
said that it was investigating an incident in Baghdad on Tuesday when
its guards opened fire on a vehicle. The Iraqi Government said that
the men killed Mrs Awanis and her passenger.
Scores of relatives and friends gathered at the main Armenian Church
in Baghdad to grieve the death of Mrs Awanis, aged 48. The body of
the second woman, identified as Geneva Jalal, was also there but no
one from her family showed up.
Everyone was shocked that Mrs Awanis, a widow and former agricultural
engineer who was forced to drive a taxi to make ends meet, had been
killed. "I don't know what to say. This is the worst crime I have
ever seen," said Abu Mareeam, the dead woman's nephew.
The three daughters, Aless, 12, Karown, 20, and Noraa, 21, were doubled
up in tears as they crowded around their mother's simple wooden coffin,
which was decorated with a small golden cross.
"These criminals killed a mother and left three orphaned girls.
Who will take care of them now?" asked one relative, who gave her
name as Um Masees.
Watching the proceedings with sadness, the Rev Nareek Ashkanean,
50, said: "This is another crime against the citizens in Iraq. Every
day civilians are being killed and no one is trying to stop it from
happening." He blamed foreign private security companies for a lot
of the suffering.
"I ask the Government to stop these companies and to bring those who
kill without reason to justice regardless of his nationality or his
country," the Rev Ashkanean said. "I want the Government to force
these companies out."
Iraq and the United States formed a joint commission to look into a
range of issues related to foreign private security companies in the
wake of a shoot-out involving Blackwater guards that left 17 people
dead last month. The commission has yet to make its recommendations
but it is expected to explore areas such as accountability and
jurisdiction.
In the latest shooting, Unity said an investigation was under way
but initial findings showed its security team fired after a vehicle
failed to stop despite "an escalation of warnings which included hand
signals and a signal flare".
Witnesses and police said that it appeared that Mrs Awanis, who
had been driving two women and a child, was trying to stop when the
shooting began.
The women are due to be buried at a cemetery near Baqouba, 35 miles
(55km) northeast of Baghdad, today.
Minority faith
1.4 million Christians were recorded in Iraq's last full national
census in 1987
700,000 have fled since then, mostly to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan
and Turkey
30% of Iraqi refugees in the Lebanon are Christian, although Christians
make up only 2-3 per cent of the Iraqi population
Sources: Iraqi Government; UNHCR
The Times
October 11, 2007
Sarmad al-Waali in Baghdad and Deborah Haynes in Baghdad
Three Christian sisters, beating their mother's coffin in grief,
wailed and hugged each other at her funeral in Baghdad yesterday
as their rapidly shrinking religious community vented anger at the
foreign security guards who killed her.
Marou Awanis, a part-time taxi driver, and one of her women passengers
became the latest victims to die at the hands of a foreign private
security team in Iraq after they were shot dead in the centre of the
capital on Tuesday.
Both the women were Armenian Christians. Their deaths stunned their
minority religious sect, which has seen its numbers in Iraq fall by
more than a half, to 10,000, since the invasion of March 2003.
The killings also heightened a sense of outrage towards private
security companies, in particular Blackwater, which many people regard
as a private army that acts with impunity.
Unity Resources Group, an Australian security outfit based in Dubai,
said that it was investigating an incident in Baghdad on Tuesday when
its guards opened fire on a vehicle. The Iraqi Government said that
the men killed Mrs Awanis and her passenger.
Scores of relatives and friends gathered at the main Armenian Church
in Baghdad to grieve the death of Mrs Awanis, aged 48. The body of
the second woman, identified as Geneva Jalal, was also there but no
one from her family showed up.
Everyone was shocked that Mrs Awanis, a widow and former agricultural
engineer who was forced to drive a taxi to make ends meet, had been
killed. "I don't know what to say. This is the worst crime I have
ever seen," said Abu Mareeam, the dead woman's nephew.
The three daughters, Aless, 12, Karown, 20, and Noraa, 21, were doubled
up in tears as they crowded around their mother's simple wooden coffin,
which was decorated with a small golden cross.
"These criminals killed a mother and left three orphaned girls.
Who will take care of them now?" asked one relative, who gave her
name as Um Masees.
Watching the proceedings with sadness, the Rev Nareek Ashkanean,
50, said: "This is another crime against the citizens in Iraq. Every
day civilians are being killed and no one is trying to stop it from
happening." He blamed foreign private security companies for a lot
of the suffering.
"I ask the Government to stop these companies and to bring those who
kill without reason to justice regardless of his nationality or his
country," the Rev Ashkanean said. "I want the Government to force
these companies out."
Iraq and the United States formed a joint commission to look into a
range of issues related to foreign private security companies in the
wake of a shoot-out involving Blackwater guards that left 17 people
dead last month. The commission has yet to make its recommendations
but it is expected to explore areas such as accountability and
jurisdiction.
In the latest shooting, Unity said an investigation was under way
but initial findings showed its security team fired after a vehicle
failed to stop despite "an escalation of warnings which included hand
signals and a signal flare".
Witnesses and police said that it appeared that Mrs Awanis, who
had been driving two women and a child, was trying to stop when the
shooting began.
The women are due to be buried at a cemetery near Baqouba, 35 miles
(55km) northeast of Baghdad, today.
Minority faith
1.4 million Christians were recorded in Iraq's last full national
census in 1987
700,000 have fled since then, mostly to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan
and Turkey
30% of Iraqi refugees in the Lebanon are Christian, although Christians
make up only 2-3 per cent of the Iraqi population