Female doctors in the Iraqi city of Mosul are witnessing the practices of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) firsthand, since they have to maintain a closer contact with them compared to school teachers and government employees who opted to stay at home, fearing they might be kidnapped or raped by foreigners.
Baghdad – About three years ago, the Iraqi civil movement raised the slogan “Baghdad is not Kandahar.” Soon, it spread to Mosul and signs reading “Ninawa is not Kandahar… save us” written in bright red covered the city’s walls.
These signs were in reference to the vicious campaign launched at the time by al-Qaeda militants who killed women for not wearing the veil, even if they were Christian or Yazidi.
Today, the nightmare of Mosul’s residents has become a reality; their city has been transformed into a new version of Afghanistan’s Kandahar. People here are being executed, archeological ruins dating back to [ancient] civilizations that existed thousands of years ago are being demolished, and religious groups that lived in peace for centuries are being wiped out.
Expelling Mosul residents to the mountains and deserts is only the tip of the iceberg, as scores of stories are being told about people dying for no reason. Many talk about the barbarism of the Islamic State (IS), fatwas concerning the conscription of children, taxes collected from merchants, and many other vicious practices that even the Mongols did not commit when they invaded Iraq in the 13th century B.C..
This includes female circumcision [a widely-spread rumor that has since been debunked] and holding women captive, according to two Mosul female doctors who spoke to Al-Akhbar.
The doctors have already posted a message on social media sites, explaining the gravity of the situation and urging people “with [a] living conscious” to save locals from the “claws” of the Islamic State.
Speaking to Al-Akhbar, Dr. Salwa Mohajer said, “They forced us to wear a burqa and a niqab. Usually men are not allowed in the delivery room, but they just enter with all their guns and their filth, claiming they are there for monitoring purposes and they molest women and doctors.”
Mohajer said she was subjected to various types of molestation, especially by Arab militants.
“A so-called Abu Mo’men made a pass on me, even though he knew I was married with children,” she said. “When I told my husband, he made some calls to people close to the militants, however, the situation turned against me because the next day Abu Mo’men threatened that he would cut my husband’s head off if I do not keep quiet.”
Mohajer explained that “militants treat women in Mosul as if they were slaves in al-Jahiliyyah (the pre-Islamic era),” revealing that some doctors and nurses were raped and threatened to be killed.
She spoke about her days in the city before ISIS took control, saying “if a man assaulted us in the street, which was very rare in Mosul, all hell would break loose on him, but today our honor is threatened and no one is saying a word about it.”
Dr. Ansam al-Hamadani, Mohajer’s colleague, also spoke to Al-Akhbar, saying “militants banned all female doctors and female staff who do not wear a veil over their faces and wear gloves to cover their hands from entering the hospital.”
Asked how a doctor can do her job and examine patients with her face and hands covered, Hamadani said “these are the rules of the state.”
“They are rude enough to ask a doctor is she is married or not, and some have gone as far as to ask the married ones to wear black and single women to wear white!”
“Did they really come here to liberate us as they claim after winning our confidence? Do they have real Islamic values?” Hamadani wondered.
Hamadani shared the story of a colleague specialized in obstetrics and gynecology who was denied access by IS militants to a hospital, where she was scheduled to do a surgery, because she did not wear a veil over her face. When she explained that she needed to examine patients, they replied, with a Mosuli accent, “let the patients die, it is not important, what matters is your veil.”
With increasing air raids by the Iraqi army and US forces, more doctors are fleeing the city and leaving their jobs. Health officials in Mosul are expecting darker days with more wounded flooding hospitals amid a sharp shortage of resources and medical staffs.
Recently, a letter signed by “Mosul Female Doctors” was circulated on social media sites, calling for a strike in local hospitals in protest of the IS violations. They said female doctors are still working because the humanitarian situation is very critical and urged the international community to save them from IS, warning of a humanitarian crisis due to the flight of female doctors.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
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