Iraq: Islamic State group forms female police force
Iraq: Islamic State group forms female police force
The newly formed female police force is monitoring women's behaviour in Kirkuk.
1 min read
IS is threatening to whip any women who fail to wear the niqab [Getty]
Dozens of female members of the Islamic State group (IS, formerly known as ISIS) have reportedly been sent to the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk to stop women breaking the group's laws.
The women have handed out pamphlets decreeing that all Muslim women must wear the niqab (a veil that fully covers the face). They are threatening to whip any women and accompanying men who fail to comply, a local security source told al-Araby al-Jadeed.
"IS' newly-formed female police force was deployed on Tuesday 16 December on the streets, in the markets and public places of Hawija, to arrest women not wearing IS-approved niqabs," the source said.
Iraqi women's weak status in society has raised fears they may be forced to fight on the frontlines, Eman al-Abdli, director of the Iraqi Organisation for Women and the Future, told al-Araby al-Jadeed. Abdli said Iraqi women should be aware of ongoing attempts to make them join the drawn-out violence in Iraq.
In Iraq's Anbar province, women have formed a new group named Banat al-Haqq ["daughters of the truth"] to support security and tribal forces in future operations against the Islamic State group. This is the first women-only militia that has been formed to fight IS in Iraq.
This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.
The women have handed out pamphlets decreeing that all Muslim women must wear the niqab (a veil that fully covers the face). They are threatening to whip any women and accompanying men who fail to comply, a local security source told al-Araby al-Jadeed.
"IS' newly-formed female police force was deployed on Tuesday 16 December on the streets, in the markets and public places of Hawija, to arrest women not wearing IS-approved niqabs," the source said.
Iraqi women's weak status in society has raised fears they may be forced to fight on the frontlines, Eman al-Abdli, director of the Iraqi Organisation for Women and the Future, told al-Araby al-Jadeed. Abdli said Iraqi women should be aware of ongoing attempts to make them join the drawn-out violence in Iraq.
In Iraq's Anbar province, women have formed a new group named Banat al-Haqq ["daughters of the truth"] to support security and tribal forces in future operations against the Islamic State group. This is the first women-only militia that has been formed to fight IS in Iraq.
This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.
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