Iraq: Women's Rights campaigner receives death threat

Death threat received by Yanar Mohamed after complaints to US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.
Yanar Mohamed, founder of the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq, received a death threat recently, days after beginning a campaign for the repeal of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council's (IGC) Resolution 137.

Resolution 137 was put in by islamic militants and addresses the imposition of arbitrary interpretations of islamic law, which deny the Iraqi people of their rights, which Yanar Mohammed and other human rights groups in Iraq are trying to protect.

Days after beginning the campaign, Ms. Mohammed received an e-mail in her personal account, entitled: "Killing Yanar Mohammed Within a Few Days".

MADRE, the international women's human rights organization, has in turn launched a campaign to publicise the contents of this e-mail and the threat posed to Iraqi citizens by some members of the US-appointed IGC, namely a group of reactionary Islamic clerics.

This clique of clerics was appointed by the US administrator, Paul Bremer, which prompted Yifat Susskind, Associate Director of MADRE, to comment:
"Paul Bremer himself helped create the current climate of extreme hostility towards women's rights groups in Iraq by appointing a group of reactionary
clerics to the Governing Council".