Sunday, December 19, 2021

Maryam al-Rukabi

Rasha al-Aqeedi Tweets:


Ok, Twitter. We need your help. This beautiful young woman from Iraq Maryam Al Rukabi refused a marriage proposal. The suitor invaded her home at night and attacked her with acid. He is still free. With enough pressure and international attention, some justice could be brought.
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7:58 AM · Dec 16, 2021 


Rasha has started a GO FUND ME campaign for Maryam:

My name is Rasha Al Ogaidi and I'm starting this fundraising campaign to help Maryam Al Rikabi, a 16 year old Iraqi teenager who lives in Baghdad, Iraq. Maryam was sleeping in her home in Baghdad peacefully  when a man intruded her bedroom and threw nitric acid all over her face and body. Maryam had refused to marry the man and he acted out of revenge. She survived the attack but her face and body are severely deformed. Maryam's family have asked for help for her treatment in Turkey or any country advanced in cosmetic surgery.
This young woman's life just shattered before her eyes in seconds. She did nothing wrong. She was a Fine Arts student in love with life and colors. Let's do what we can to help her. All secured funds will be wired to her family directly. 


GULF TODAY reports:

The Iraqi girl, Maryam Al Rukabi, did not expect that her story would be the talk of the media, after her life turned into a tragedy just because she refused a marriage proposal by man, so her beautiful face was burned with acid, to live with permanent suffering, while the perpetrator remained unpunished, according to Iraqi media.

The student of the College of Fine Arts in Iraq, Maryam, who is famous among her friends as the “Princess”, won the sympathy of millions, after she and her family appeared on a media station recounting her tragedy that occurred 6 months ago.

A young man asked the girl to marry him, but she refused due to his moral character, so he decided to take revenge on her in a horrific way.

At night, he crept into her house in the Mansour district of Baghdad. 

He poured acid on her face, and fled the scene.

The media quoted Maryam’s father, as saying: “My mother and I were at work, and Maryam, her brother and his wife were at home, when the criminal entered the house and stole her phone, and poured the acid substance on her while she was sleeping.”

He pointed out that the perpetrator came at night, masked, despite passing in front of security points, and passers-by on the street leading to their house, but no one stopped him.



Mustafa Goran (RUDAW) notes:


Rukabi’s attacker had proposed marriage multiple times, but she had continued to refuse. Her mother said the teenager wanted to complete her education before getting married, and just saw the man as a friend.

“The guy was calling us all the time, giving us his address, but we continuously turned down his request to marry our daughter. He sent us messages for months,” said Suham, Maryam’s mother. “Maryam's response to him was, 'I do not want to marry'. She would always tell the guy ‘we are just friends, I cannot accept you as a husband.’” 

The perpetrator, said to be 19, reportedly attacked Maryam after learning she was home alone. 

Around 80 percent of her face is burned beyond recognition, and she was hospitalized for months, fighting for her life.



Just walking along, shopping for food
Stepping out of the line of fire when people are rude
Cheap stuff made in China, someone calls it a sale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail

Beat down in the market, stoned to death in the plaza
Raped on the hillside under the gun from LA to Gaza
A house made of cardboard living close to the rail
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail


And I feel the witch in my veins
I feel the mother in my shoe
I feel the scream in my soul
The blood as I sing the ancient blue
They burned in the millions
I still smell the fire in my grandma's hair
The war against women rages on
Beware of the fairytale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail

The noise of elections, the promise of change
A grabbing of power at the top, a day at the rifle range
Somebody's in danger, somebody's for sale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail

-- "Somebody's Jail," written by Holly Near, first appears on her album SHOW UP.