Baghdad: In the past three months, more than 40 women were murdered in Basra province by extremists for reasons described by the Women's Rights Organisation's report in Baghdad as wrongful, unfair and with no respect to their rights.
Sahera Aziz, a women's rights activist in Basra, told Gulf News: "There is Iranian incitement to target women in Shiite southern provinces and force them to wear an Iranian-like veil and that led extremists to murder 40 women in Basra."
Major General Abdul Jalil Khalaf, police chief in Basra, told Gulf News he will confront extremists who are targeting women, threatening to wage a security campaign against them.
Threat mail
Political parties and civil society organisations in Iraq have warned of what they called "fascist religious militias" growing in large Shiite cities. These militias loyal to Iran are accused of conducting assassination operations against Iraqi anti-Iranian fundamentalist influence in the region.
Bushra Kadhim, a student at Basra University, told Gulf News: "I have received eight threatening letters from colleagues in the university. These included direct murder threats if I continued wearing coloured and modern clothes. I know those who sent these letters, they are followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr."
In Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah and Amara provinces, the scenario may appear different from Basra because there is a campaign to prevent women from working and studying.
Suadad Hussain, who works in a government institute, told Gulf News: "I am facing great pressure from hardliners in our department. They forced me to leave work. I hear their comments opposing working women.
"We had more than 28 women in the department but today we have only 12 women employees."
Thamer Al Fereji, a political researcher, told Gulf News: "The southern Iraqi areas are on the verge of establishing a political regime as Taliban in Afghanistan but this one is Shiite Taliban which is supported and planned by Iran. "The regime tends to target women [along with] Iyad Alawi, the Muslim Scholars Association, Kurdish and Islamic Parties."
Sources close to the Minister of Higher Education of the Accord Front, Abd Diab Al Ajili, told Gulf News security forces close to Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki conceal investigation results of assassinations of more than 200 professors in the past two years.
A source told Gulf News: "The investigations carried out by universities [came close to] identifying the perpetrators and probably they are elements of extreme religious militia affiliated to political parties within Al Maliki's government that are backed by Iran."
