What a truly shocking and sad story!
A young Iraqi woman fled to London and then to Hamburg in order to escape her family who was forcing her to marry her cousin. According to the Dublin Regulation, she would have to request asylum in the first European country she entered: Great Britain. But the young woman, who goes under the name Zainab Sulman, is afraid to go back to the country where she has relatives who could easily track her down. In fact, she fears they may even be capable of committing an honor killing.
Sulman, who has already attempted suicide twice while living in Iraq, is currently staying in a church that has offered her shelter. She would like to do her Master’s degree and move on to find a job and love, in short: to live a self-determined life. However, the administrative court in Hamburg refused to protect her by offering her asylum in Germany. They ruled that “no extraordinary humanitarian reasons” could be determined and suggested that Sulman, who is not a virgin anymore, should have her hymen restored through surgery; that it should suffice to maintain the illusion during her wedding night and prevent her family’s rage.
Sulman has to remain in the church in hiding for at least another year in order not to get deported. She is hoping that an online petition will help to get her case reviewed.
You can read the full story here and here (both in German).
You can sign the petition here.
eva lake "anonymous woman no. 14" 2011
disciplineandanarchy.wordpress.com 