ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – In August 2017, Erbil police found a woman’s body in a desert near the Gazne village which belongs to the town of Ainkawa. Almost seven months after the body was found, it still lies in a freezer in Erbil’s forensics institute.
“The body is that of a woman. Four days had passed since the day she was killed when we found her body. A bullet was shot at her head. Her body was devoured. Wild animals had eaten one of her hands and legs,” Major Hogir Aziz, a spokesperson for Erbil police, told Rudaw.
No identity cards were found with the body. Aziz assumes the woman is aged between 20 and 25.
Hers is not the only body discovered in such deserted places.
“Most of them are women probably killed due to reasons associated with their honor. Often, these bodies are disfigured so that they are unrecognizable,” said Aziz.
“These bodies are often dumped in deserted places. Wild animals devour parts of their bodies by the time they are found. In the summer, the heat deforms these bodies even more. That is why identifying them is very difficult,” he added.
One other dead body held in Erbil’s forensics institute is that of a woman found four months ago on the road between Daratu sub-district and Binaslawa town.
“We found her family, but they were not ready to take the body back. They said they didn’t want the body because she was killed over matters of honor,” he said.
There are currently 12 dead bodies in Erbil’s forensics department, eight of them women. Nobody has come forward to claim them.
Dr Yasin Karim, director of the forensics institute, said: “Most of the bodies that remain here and go unclaimed are those of women. Most of them are killed under the excuse of protecting honor.”
KRG: 14 women dead in reported ‘honor’ killings for 2017
According to Karim, the bodies there are aged between 17 and 30. Two of them are over the age of 50. Only two died from natural causes. The rest appear to have been murdered. The most recent body passed to the institute is that of Belan Kamal, who was killed in the Koya area.
On January 20, 2018, someone identifying himself as a shepherd called Koya police and informed them of the murder of a woman. Police attended the scene that night and by dawn they had discovered a woman’s body. A week later, she was identified as 21-year-old Belan.
Qanih, Belan’s husband, has been in prison for a year. Police took a statement from him after Belan’s body was discovered. He alleged her relatives had killed her. Some 36 days after her body was found, it still rests in Erbil’s forensics department. Her relatives are not prepared to retrieve the body and bury her.
“We take photos of unknown dead bodies and set a code for them. Whoever comes to us to ask about the body, we show them the photos. Relatives can retrieve these dead bodies even after they are buried via the code of their burial,” Karim said.
“According to instructions, dead bodies cannot remain there for more than eight months. Eight months after the death, we inform the municipality team to come and bury them if no one shows up to claim them,” Karim said.
