- Leyla Qasim
Leyla Qasim (
1952 inXaneqîn -May 12 ,1974 inBaghdad ) ( _ar. لیلى قاسم) was a Kurdish activist against theIraq iBa'ath regime who was executed inBaghdad . She is known as a national martyr among theKurds .Birth and Childhood
Was the third out of five children born to Kurdish
farmer , Dalaho Qasim and his wife Kanî. She was born inXaneqîn but was relocated toIrbil when she was four yearsold. The Qasims lived in wretchedpoverty , relying onrations for food and clothes. Leyla and her brother, Çiyako , were taughtArabic by their mother when they were six and eight andagriculture Political Activism
When Leyla was sixteen years old when
Abdul Rahman Arif was overthrown byBa'ath party leader, GeneralAhmed Hassan al-Bakr . Leyla was disturbed by the violent takeover in the capital. During the late 1960s, Leyla and Çiyako wrote pamphlets on thehorrors of theBa'ath party including the new leader,Saddam Hussein whom theydescribed as being againstKurdish independence .Leyla spoke to several Kurds in the Northern region of Iraq about the
Ba'ath regime and the loosemorals of the members. Leyla was told that her words were inspiring sedition.She was executed in Baghdad on May 12, 1974.
References
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/733/000134331/ Leyla Qasim] at nndb.com
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