2,000 Iraqi women kidnapped, worse off women conditions

The Iraqi "Freedom Of Woman" organization said on Wednesday that more than 2,000 women were kidnapped in Iraq since the collapse of the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The chairperson of the organization Yanar Muhammad said in a press conference on the occasion of the International Women's Day in Baghdad that "some women were sold as a commodity inside and outside Iraq."

Yanar said that "the number of women who are al-Kazemeyah jail ( north of Baghdad) alone is more than 200." Noting "since the beginning of what is called the phase of liberation and democracy of Iraq, attacks have escalated against woman and at a larger scale than that under the rule of the Baathist dictatorship."

She added that "crimes of the occupation, the Islamic forces, and the barbarian traditions which all govern the society, have met to be a great danger against the rights and life of women in Iraq," stressing "women used to go to work and study safely while they are today exposed to kidnapping, killing and are raped."