The following story was originally published by Kayleigh Lewis in The Independent on June 9, 2016.
Women in parts of Syria are celebrating being freed from Isis and the group’s draconican dress code by wearing brightly coloured clothing – with one Kurdish woman vowing to wear red for the rest of her life.
Under ISIS rule, women in Abu Qalqal, Manbij, were forced to wear only loose black clothing covering their whole body, and a double veil over their face – or risk imprisonment.
Kurdish woman: “Now I will only wear red.”
Khadija Abdu Al-Muotee, a Kurdish woman from the small town located close to the Turkish border, said: “They forced us to cover our faces with the Islamic veil and threatened to kill us. Now I will only wear red.”
Mrs Al-Muotee, who was speaking to a female journalist from theHawar news agency, was filmed wearing a red leopard print hijab and large red flowers, with her face and hands uncovered.
“Oh God! Oh God! Freed! Freed!” she said.
The video report also shows a crowd of elated women, mostly in coloured dress and uncovered faces, and their children, chanting, “We are freed! We are freed!”
In January, a 21-year old girl from Manjib was tortured to death by a female jihadist known as Oum Farouq for violating the dress code, ARA News reported.
A family member, who asked to remain anonymous, told the press agency: “’We cannot even protest against this horrible crime. The only judicial department in Manbij is the Sharia Court, which supports such crimes.”
Read the original story in The Independent here.
