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YouTube Censors Stoning Video Censored video here-(might not work) Reaction to Kurdish Girl Stoned to Death Sometimes I'm ashamed to be a member of the human race. Sometimes I find myself crying like a baby and howling to the wind in despair. Sometimes I think to live in this world as we know it is hopeless. Nothing changes. Mans inhumanity to man goes on. I came across the cellphone videos of the brutal killing of a 17 year old Yezidi/Kurdish girl in a "honor killing" (see the story and video below)and it stunned me. I don't think I've ever seen such sickening mindless brutality. But I thought "the world should know about this" so I posted it to YouTube where it was promptly removed after 20 minutes. So I thought on it some more and then recorded a video of myself watching the Stoning video here on my site. I called it "YouTube Censors Stoning Video" and it quickly became one of the most watched and most commented videos over the past two days. At last count some 6,500 people had watched it. Most share my horror and abhorrence. But some have criticised me for posting the original cellphone videos again on YouTube. This time they lasted a day and were seen by over 2000 people before being removed for "Inappropriate Content". "The Daily Reel" vlog site ran a feature on it and said "...one angry YouTube user is crying foul, trying to raise awareness (and possibly self-promotion), by creating another YouTube post titled "YouTube Censors Stoning Video," which includes links to his own site -- which also includes the offensive clips. Human-rights activism or exploitation, you decide." A prominent YouTube "celebrity", Blunty3000, wrote "...tell me exactly WHY do we need to SEE it happen? what do we gain from WATCHING this girl die? ESPECIALLY from footage taken from people standing by and watching it happen. I'm revolted you're so anxious to have everyone watch this horrifying event. Tell the story, please, but the video is purely unnecessary and vulgar." And there have been other derogatory comments questioning my motivation. The thing is. After I posted this, BoingBoing picked it up. As did FoxNews, The Sydney Morning Herald, Digg and God-knows-who-else. It's out there. Over the past two days I've had over 7000 vistors to this site - most of them coming to that video. I've had to purchase more Bandwidth to keep up with it. But the few comments have been encouraging. People are actually applauding me for doing it. So what I'm feeling now is "What can we do to stop these "honor killings" happening? Is joining or donating to Amnesty enough? Should we be signing the petition to the Kurdistan Government that's going around? Maybe we should be making a collaborative video to send to the Yezikis, for a starter, telling them what we think of "honor killings"? Have you any ideas? How do we stop hundreds if not thousands of years of cultural custom? How do we stop this madness? * I agonised about posting this but I think it needs to be seen. Iraq: Amnesty International appalled by stoning to death of Yezidi girl and subsequent killings. Amnesty International is appalled by the killing of Du'a Khalil Aswad, aged about 17, who was stoned to death on or around 7 April 2007 for a so-called honour crime. A member of Iraq's Yezidi religious minority from the village of Bahzan in northern Iraq, she was killed by a group of eight or nine men and in the presence of a large crowd in the town of Bashika, near the city of Mosul. Some of her relatives are said to have participated in the killing. Du'a Khalil Aswad's murder is said to have been committed by relatives and other Yezidi men because she had engaged in a relationship with a Sunni Muslim boy and had been absent from her home for one night. Some reports suggested that she had converted to Islam, but others deny this. Initially, she was reportedly given shelter in the house of a Yezidi tribal leader in Bashika, but her killers stormed the house, took her outside and stoned her to death. Her death by stoning, which lasted for some 30 minutes, was recorded on video film which was then widely distributed and is available on the internet. The film reportedly shows that members of local security forces were present but failed to intervene to prevent the stoning or arrest those responsible. ... "Honour crimes" are most often perpetrated by male members of the woman's family in the belief that such crimes restore their and their family's honour. While the Kurdish authorities introduced legal reforms to address "honour killings" they have, however, failed to investigate and prosecute those responsible for such crimes. Amnesty International has documented its concerns about Iraqi women victims of human rights violations, including "honour crimes", in a report issued in February 2005 (Iraq: Decades of suffering-Now women deserve better, AI Index: MDE 14/001/2005, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index...pen&of=ENG-IRQ) Another video here - 17 year old girl stoned to death Posted on Sunday, May 6, 2007 Photo Yanar Mohammed of Iraq and Dr. Sima Samar of Afghanistan on the Dire Situation for Women Under U.S. Occupation and Rising Fundamentalism

* In a short mobile video clip which appears to have been taken by locals at seen of the murder, the girl is seen being ambushed on her way home by a group of up to 1000 men who were waiting for her to return; the men killed her in the most brutal way possible, by throwing large stones on her head. The following clips show that while she is alive and crying for help she is taunted and kicked in her stomach until someone finishes her off by throwing a large stone on her face. From the clips it appears that the girl was first stripped naked to symbolize that she had dishonored her family and her Yezidi religion. She is lying on the road naked while her smashed face is covered with blood and still breathing. http://www.aina.org/news/20070425181603.htm

// posted by Alice @ Monday, May 14, 2007