User:Shidana120/sandbox

= Helena Aloun Sawa = Helena Aloun Sawa (date) was an Assyrian women from the village of Bash in the Nerwa Rekan region of Dohuk province in northern Iraq. She was raped and murdered by suspected high ranking members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

Background
Helena Sawa was the daughter of Mr. Aloun Sawa, an Assyrian member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Mr. Sawa had been killed in 1991 by the Iraqi government forces while fighting for Mahsoud Barzani's KDP during the uprising against the Baghdad regime following the Gulf War. Mr. Sawa was formally recognized by the KDP as a martyr and, as is customary for fallen fighters of the KDP, the party had promised a pension to the Sawa family in recognition of the sacrifice made by Mr. Sawa. After only two monthly stipends, however, the pension was inexplicably denied to the Sawa family while other Kurdish families continued to receive their pensions.

Like many other families in Iraq, the Sawa family was impoverished, following the heavy economic sanctions set on Iraq by the US. When the Sawa family appealed to the KDP for reinstatement of the pension, the KDP instead suggested that the Sawa's turn over their young daughter Helena to work as a housekeeper for a senior KDP leader in order to continue the monthly payments. Thus, out of desperation the Sawa's were obliged to ask their daughter to work for a pension that other Kurdish families were provided outright. Consequently, Helena Sawa came to work in the home of Mr. Azet Al Din Al Barwari, a higher echelon KDP operative and a leading member of the political bureau of the KDP. Helena lived and worked in the Al Barwari home and was allowed to return to her family's home only once monthly.

Disappearance and death
Helena was expected home for her monthly furlough from work on May 5, 1999. When she did not arrive at her family home, the concerned Sawa family inquired regarding Helena's whereabouts. The Sawa family had already been deeply troubled about Helena's well being since she had appeared agitated and distraught on her previous visits home. Mr. Al Barwari and the KDP denied any knowledge about Ms. Sawa's whereabouts since she was alleged by the Kurds to have left the Al Barwari home on May 3. The KDP offered no assistance in searching for Helena. Mr. Al Barwari has used his authority within the KDP to intimidate the Sawa family into not pursuing an investigation of the crime. Once again, the KDP's reluctance to launch an investigation and Mr. Al Barwari's intimidation had led many Assyrians to suspect KDP and Al Barwari being complicit in the murder of Helena Sawa.

In early June, more than four weeks after her disappearance, Helena was discovered by a shepherd. She was partially buried in a shallow grave near Dohuk dam. The decomposed body was exposed and appeared to have been partially eaten by scavenging wild animals.The Sawa family was brought to the burial site in order to provide a positive identification of the remains of the body. Following identification, the body was exhumed and taken to a Dohuk hospital for examination. Because of the mysterious circumstances of Helena's murder and the family's belief that she may have been raped, an autopsy was requested. However, because of Kurdish intimidation, the final report was delayed and was not expected to be scientifically objective or valid.

Aftermath
The Assyrian nationalist group Mesopotamia National Council attacked and retaliated against a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) military compound in the town of Kasre on 17 July 1999, where 39 KDP Peshmerga fighters were killed and 20 injured. Three days later a second attack was carried out by the group in which several of Massoud Barzani's fighters were killed when an army truck driving on a bridge between Kasre and Haci Umran was blown up by the PROB. The group claimed both attacks were to avenge the death of Assyrian Helen Sawa.