The burial of Avan Najmadeen, another victim of honour base violence on Friday 26 of October was attended by Avan’s family and representatives of KMEWO and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), as well as a group of Kurdish friends and acquaintances.
Avan Najmadeen 32, mum-of-four was found stabbed to death after she failed to turn up for the school run. The school alerted the police who went to her house to check on her. She was pronounced dead after being found with multiple stab wounds in her flat on Glebedale Road, in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent at around 5pm on Monday 8 October.
Upon further investigation, 3 men were arrested: her husband, her brother-in-law and one other man. She had been murdered by her husband, 35-year-old Dana Abdullah, an Iranian-born man of no fixed address. She leaves behind 4 children aged between four and 11 years old. Her husband confessed to the crime and his trial will be held in December 2018.
KMEWO and IFIR and extended their support to Avan’s family, and are helping her parents to come and visit the children as well as helping them to get justice for their murdered daughter.
Kurdish individuals and her sister and brother-in-law donated the money to cover the cost of her funeral. KMEWO’s president, Sawsan Salim, extended her condolences to the family and mentioned the reasons leading to killing of women in Kurdistan and Europe and how secular people via women’s organizations can work to prevent these killings. These murders are all due to male chauvinism, male dominance and backward cultural beliefs.
Sawsan stated that she is shocked by this murder and that she thought that after all the hard work KMEWO and similar organizations and charities have been doing plus the help of the police, these murders were a thing of the past. She concluded by stating that it was every organization’s duty to aim to end this barbaric custom with the support of all decision makers and authorities.
At the end of the day, Avan was buried, her coffin covered with flowers.