Asya Maria Muhammad - Prisoner Profile
- Kaleo Church
- Sep 23, 2007
- Series: World Community Stories
PRISONER NAME: Asya “Maria” Muhammad
LOCATION: Iraq (Kurdistan)
ARRESTED: July 2006
SENTENCE: 3 years
SUPPORTED BY: Downtown Missional Community
Asya "Maria" Muhammad is living the life of a 14 year old Christian girl in Iraq. Her grandparents are demanding her death and $60,000 blood money. All while she sits in jail on murder charges for defending her mother and little brother from being killed by her uncle.
Maria's father, Ahmad, came to Christ whilst in Beirut and, upon returning to Iraq in 2002, shared his faith with his family. In 2003, his wife, one son and Maria were baptised. Freed from the limits of Islamic Sharia law, Ahmad allowed his wife and daughter to work in his kitchen utensil store. As far as can be know, Ahmad and his family did nothing to provoke anyone. However Maria's grandfather and uncles were enraged. To them the prospect of their female relatives working openly without head covering and obviously no longer following Islam, was a dishonor they could not bear.
Her Muslim uncle, Sayeed, tried five times to kill Ahmad and burned down his house.
Finally on July 9th 2006, Maria was working in her father's kitchen utensil shop near Dohuk, when her uncle, grandfather and cousin arrived. Ahmad was out of the shop and only Maria, her mother and her little brother were in the store. Sayeed attacked Maria's mother, beat her severely and then knifed her face. He then turned to Maria and her younger brother, Chuli, and started beating them. Maria's mother fled the store and Sayeed grabbed Maria by the hair and began to beat her and tear her hair out. Struggling to free herself from Sayeed's grip, Maria grabbed a kitchen knife and instinctively struck out in self-defence. The knife stabbed Sayeed in the heart and he died instantly.
Arrested and charged with murder, young Maria faced life in prison. As her trial progressed her grandparents, convinced that her father was the one who killed Sayeed, put up a large sum of money for his death. However during mediation between her father and her grandparents, her grandparents agreed that she was the one who killed Sayeed, lifted the death threat from her father and instead put it on her.
At trial though her lawyer, Akram Al-Najar, faced threats from Islamic radicals he argued her case well and though she was convicted of pre-mediated murder, the court gave a sentence only 5 years in prison. Al-Najar appealed her case to the Kurdish High court and successfully got the sentence reduced to 3 _ years.
Interestingly, Maria's jail time has actually proven to be beneficial since it also means she does not have to fear reprisal attacks from her relatives. "It will be dangerous for Maria when she gets out of jail," Maria's mother, Mayan Jaffar Ibrahim, told reporters. "We are afraid that another uncle will come again and do the same thing. We might have to change houses."
"If released, she would have to move away from Dohuk to get away from her relatives," lawyer Al-Najar said, echoing the family's concerns.
The knowledge that jail is the safest place for her daughter is of little consolation to Mrs Ibrahim, who misses Maria deeply. "Pray that Maria can get out of jail," she told Compass Direct reportes quietly as tears formed in her eyes.
Al-Najar, who took Maria's case pro bono, received two anonymous written threats prior to the initial ruling in February because of his role in defending Maria. The Chaldean lawyer said he took Maria's case because he felt it was important for both freedom of religion and women's rights.
"In the Islamic religion, women should be inside the house," he told reporters, citing the reason Asya's uncle had given for attacking her and her mother. "It was even worse that this family had converted to Christianity." Both issues are up for public debate in northern Iraq as the Kurdish government works on drafting a regional constitution.
In recent months, women's rights groups have conducted a public campaign against female genital mutilation, whilst Kurdish converts to Christianity have begun to discuss petitioning the government for the right to change the religion status on their identification cards.
Kurdish leaders have taken increasing steps to meet the needs of Kurdish converts from Islam to Christianity, who now number in the hundreds. Two churches, one in Irbil and another Suleymania, have been registered with the government, and believers are able to conduct public evangelism. Still, converts remain unable to change the section on their ID cards that identifies them as Muslims.
Currently visiting day at Maria Muhammad's juvenile and women's prison outside of Dohuk occur bi-weekly. However Maria's mother and her sons can only afford to make the trip once a week and so Maria often feels lonely in the prison and does not have many friends. "The other girls tease her because the jail manager calls her a good girl and the others are jealous," Mrs Ibrahim said.
Mrs Ibrahim said that her daughter's favorite time in jail is school, where she has the opportunity to learn to read. Her reading skills are low, her mother said, and she is unable to read the Bible that she has with her in her cell. To support the family, Maria's father has begun working outside Dohuk.
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Felix Joy on Jun 6, 2008 11:50am
Is there any way i can help Asya . she is innocent and i am praying to Jesus to set her free from this and let her case be handled by another nation ...regards felix ..email : felixjoy2001@gmail.com