Newly Crowned Miss Iraq Fears for Her Life

[Barrett808]

Newly Crowned Miss Iraq Fears for Her Life
By JAMAL HALABY, Associated Press Writer

AMMAN, Jordan - Iraq's newly crowned beauty queen has gone into hiding, fearing she will be targeted by Islamic militants who reportedly threatened to kill other women who participated in a Baghdad pageant last week.

Silva Shahakian, an Iraqi Christian, received the title of Miss Iraq when the initial winner stepped down after receiving death threats and two other runners-up also bowed out, a person familiar with the event said Wednesday.

Since receiving the crown, Shahakian has been lying low, fearing she will be targeted, he said. The pageant was held April 9 in a Baghdad social club and the initial winner, Tamar Goregian, gave back the crown four days later, he said.

The man spoke on condition of anonymity, refusing to be identified further, saying he also feared retribution from militants.

Shahakian's whereabouts were unknown, although it was believed that she was still in Iraq. Several attempts to reach Goregian, who is believed to have left Iraq, failed.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060412/ap_on_re_mi_ea/miss_iraq

[saigon68]

1. What if they gave a beauty pagent

And nobody entered

[Bhaisahab]

17. brilliant thought! n/t

[Mend]

2. were there beauty contests in Iraq when Saddam Hussein

ruled? Curious to know if these people really have more freedom now.

[0rganism]

3. Yes, but Saddam always won

On the up side, his life was never endangered as a result ;)

[daleo]

4. I think Uday got to date the winners

So, the contests weren't exactly oversubscribed.

Seriously, I think there were such events, as women were actually quite free under his regime.

[bdamomma]

12. there hasn't been a beauty contest

since the invasion, sorry I corrected my misunderstanding.

[HuffleClaw]

5. ok, this is at least somewhat hilarious

not the death threats part.

[Zenlitened]

6. Iraqi women have not been "liberated" by Bush's Folly, not at all.

Their rights as human beings are being threatened, constrained, and stripped away by the religious fundamentalists Bush has turned loose in Iraq.

This may seem like "only" a beauty pageant, but it's a vivid symptom of how radical Islamists oppress women. And how it's only likely to get worse, now that Bush and his neo-con controllers have unleashed forces they never actually comprehended, and have no chance of controlling,

:grr:

[LostinVA]

9. Under Saddam, women had very, very close to equal rights

Including having a MINIMUM number of parliament seats they held. That's one reason why the Saudis (including OBL), etc., loathed him -- he was very secular, and quite Western. The women of Iraq have watched their rights and lives erode over the past years... they are now worse off than Iranian women, because at least professional Iranian women are allowed to work (doctors, etc.) and are safe and free to go to school.

[LiberalFighter]

22. Maybe that is why Iraq was invaded

dimwad and his right wing fundamentalistic creeps didn't want beauty pageants in Iraq

[AzDar]

7. Jeebus..that's both sad and somehow hilarious. A beauty pageant??

[truthisfreedom]

8. for cripe's sake, please, ladies, leave the country before you enter a

beauty pageant. remember, Iraq is a little like Texas.

[bdamomma]

10. yes, I heard that

she is the first Iraqi Armenian contestant, they called her an infidel, terrible, I am of Armenian descent, this is just sick.

[LostinVA]

11. Why are people on this thread laughing at this?

This is horrible.

[Zenlitened]

19. I don't get that, either. I mean, the idea of a beauty pageant going on...

... in Iraq right now might seem strange. Maybe some Iraqis are just trying to lead as normal a life as possible?

But I hope DUers realize that there is a serious women's rights issue underlying all this. It's a damned crime what the Bushiecons have done, unleashing religious fanatics on a society that -- whatever its other faults -- at least was living in the 21st century when it came to respecting women as equals.

These radical Islamists see women as property, at best, disposable garbage at worst. And I fear Iraqi women will be relegated to sub-human status by the time this all shakes out.

Some "democracy," Dubya. What an asshole.

:(

[Blue_Tires]

27. not funy per se

but just outrageously surreal in the way that all you can do is chuckle and wonder what kind of world this is, and whose idea this was...I mean, 'war zone' and 'beauty pageant' are two terms I NEVER thought I'd see in the same story---This is something straight out of a M*A*S*H* episode or something....

[Miss Chybil]

13. I can't believe they're having beauty pageants in a war zone. Weird. nt

[Canuckistanian]

23. Next, they'll be holding Horticultural meetings

Or Mixed Bridge Tournaments.

This is insane.

[wellst0nev0ter]

14. First Afghanistan, Now THIS?

Controversial Afghan contestant back in Philippine beauty pageant as judge

JIM GOMEZ; Associated Press Writer, October 24, 2004

An Afghan woman, condemned in her conservative homeland after appearing in a bikini in a Philippine beauty contest last year, rejoined the pageant Sunday as a judge, saying the controversy bolstered her advocacy for women's rights.

Vida Samadzai, 26, was among 11 judges chosen to pick the winner in Miss Earth, an annual beauty pageant that promotes environmental protection, organizers said. There was no Afghan candidate among the more than 60 women vying for the title Sunday following last year's controversy, they said.

<snip>

In a radical departure from the conservative image of Afghan women, Samadzai paraded in a red bikini down a catwalk last year to qualify for the contest. She failed to make it to the semifinals but won a special "beauty for a cause" award, largely for her women's rights work.

Afghan officials, however, said she betrayed Afghan culture by appearing in the beauty contest and warned she could face prosecution if she returned to her native country.

Samadzai said she felt uncomfortable in the skimpy attire, but did it to qualify for the contest and raise awareness of the plight of women and children in her homeland. She said she was urged to join the pageant by people aware of her work as a volunteer fund raiser and as a founder of an Afghan women's rights organization.

Samadzai said she has not returned to Afghanistan since the controversy erupted. "I'm not welcomed there ... they might prosecute me if ever I go back home," she said.

She has stayed mainly in the United States, where she became involved with fund-raising activities and was often invited on talk shows. Her busy schedule has prevented her from returning to school to finish a course in speech communications and international business.

http://pakistantimes.net/2004/10/25/top10.htm

Nice job, spreading that democracy and crap Boosh.

[npincus]

15. Isn't she lovely?

[rocktivity]

18. LOL! Here she is...I mean, was

...Shahakian...was the fourth runner-up in the contest. The top three winners declined the crown after receiving death threats... (link)



:rofl:
rocknation

[Canuckistanian]

24. Ah, the swimsuit competition..

LOL :rofl:

[AnneD]

16. This story is a

crying laughing story. You laugh because you can think of all the catagories: Swimsuit (covered in burkas), talent (uulating, IED constructing,), evening burka......and then you realize these girls can get killed or kidnapped just because they are women that entered a beauty uh I mean scholarship competition.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. Is this really the best time for Iraq to hold a beauty contest?

I'm not sure who the organizers were; but I'd think if they were Iraqi they'd be a little more sensitive to the effect that such a culture invasion would render.

[oblivious]

21. "In Iraq the Miss Iraq Pageant has taken place since 1949..."

Scroll down to the two letters below this article - one from a former Miss Iraq. he second one is more informative.

http://www.hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=325

Beauty Pageants
As a former Miss Iraq, i can say that its Islam that treats women like slaves not pageants at least we are given the opportunity to choose wether to take part or not but islam treats women like slaves, deprives them of work, voting and allows men to marry 4 women and that is depicting a woman as a slave and not a beauty contest.

I know that most Sunni muslims dont believe in such values but unfortunately the Shiite culture is dominating now. So if you dont like pageants dont take part or watch them. besides the only pageant that counts world wide is Miss World and Miss Universe.

Gwen Cripps

March 13th, 2005

Pageants

In Iraq the Miss Iraq Pageant has taken place since 1949, and it still continues and only in the past couple of years, since 2003 to be exact, due to the security issue and now that the Shiites have power, the Miss Iraq is being held outside of Iraqi soil.

As for the Swimsuit issue, what i know is that Miss Iraq always wore a one piece bathing suit and in 1995 they tested the pageant fans when they introduced the two piece, which caused some criticism, then in 1996 they adopted the total beach look, making the girls wear sarongs, and that was all because of 1 contestant in 1995 who won second place, hence earning the Maiden of Beauty Title , she was a Shiite and its only the Shiites who oppose such contests here. and God knows if they might ban the Pageant God forbid should that Al jafari coem to power, ( God Forbid). for more on Miss Iraq go to http://iraqmodels.tripod.com/

Miss World and Miss Universe are the only pageant that people watch in Iraq, i guess this Iranian girl wants attention. since her country has a poor P.R image, so do we but we were always a seculart state, and hopefully we stay that way and i pray to god that Iraq seperates into three nations, we need to get away from those shiites who still live in the dark ages.
i rest my case.
Ahmed by the way im half sunni muslim half Jew and i am so not into religion

Ahmed Kadret

[madmark]

25. they should have called it,"Miss Jihad", safer for contestants

[DuaneBidoux]

26. So the chances of bringing democracy here are how much?

[Barrett808]

28. Miss Iraq bows out amid death threats ("the Queen of Infidels")

MISS IRAQ BOWS OUT AMID DEATH THREATS: BID TO CHANGE COUNTRY'S IMAGE SUFFERS SETBACK
Daniel McGrory, Times of London

The Calgary Herald (Alberta)
April 13, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition

It is proving as hard to find a beauty queen as it is to find a prime minister in Iraq.

Exhausted by the time their politicians are taking to agree on a leader, the country thought it had at least succeeded in choosing a Miss Iraq.

But Wednesday night, the people's choice -- Tamar Goregian, 23, a blonde student with photogenic pout -- was in hiding in neighbouring Jordan, having hastily renounced her crown following death threats from Islamic extremists.

Only six days ago she was revelling in her victory, blinking back tears of joy as she told admirers crammed into a Baghdad nightclub that "maybe beauty is the final step to end the violence here and preach peace after all."

Organizers had hoped her appearance at the Miss Universe contest in Los Angeles in July would show the world a different image of Iraq.

By Wednesday they were searching for a replacement after fundamentalists denounced the terrified Goregian, an Armenian Christian, as "the Queen of Infidels."

The two runners-up, both Muslim, swiftly declined the crown.

On Wednesday it was left to the fourth-placed contestant, Silva Sahagian, 23, another Christian, to assume the mantle. "Our politicians should have more to worry about than whether Miss Iraq should go to America," she said. "I cannot believe the extremists would do anything to a beauty queen."

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg144635.html