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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leyla Qasim, who is known as \u201cLeyla of Kurdistan\u201d, \u201cThe hero of her people who love their country\u201d, was executed in Baghdad on May 12, 1987 by the Iraqi Ba’ath regime. Today, she is a symbol of courage and resistance for the Kurdish women chanting the slogan, \u201cJin, Jiyan, Azadi\u201d by removing their hijab.<\/p>\n
Leyla Qasim was a Feyli Kurd born in 1952 in the Bamili village of Khanaqin district of Iraq\u2019s Diyala province. She was the only daughter of a family of five children. The meaning of Leyla in Arabic is \u201cNight\u201d or \u201cDark\u201d. She was named Leyla because she was born at night. Her family was a poor Kurdish family. She always moved from one place to another with her family because of their Kurdish identity. In 1958, they moved to Baghdad.<\/p>\n
After completing her high school education in Baghdad, she studied sociology at the University of Baghdad. When she was 20, she joined the Kurdistan Students\u2019 Union. At the university, she wrote an article on the Kurdophobia of Saddam Hussein. After her article was published, she was targeted by the Iraqi Ba’ath regime. At every opportunity, Leyla, who became an active militant of the struggle for liberation of the Kurds, said, \u201cSlavery is not the fate of the Kurds\u201d.<\/p>\n
1974, the Iraqi Ba’ath regime intensified its attacks on the Kurds. The Kurdish families were forced to leave Baghdad. The regime forces launched airstrikes on Kurdish town Qalladze. Hundreds of people were killed in the airstrikes. Leyla Qasim and her four comrades planned to hijack a plane to make the Iraqi Ba’ath regime attacks against the Kurdish people heard all around the world. On April 24, 1974, the Ba\u2019ath regime forces arrested her and her comrades. They did not say a single word to the Ba\u2019ath regime forces although they were tortured.<\/p>\n
During the lengthy show trial, Leyla Qasim and her comrades judged their executioners. They were sentenced to death. On May 12, 1974, Leyla Qasim and her comrades were executed by the order of Saddam Hussein. Before her execution, she said, \u201cMy execution will wake up thousands of Kurds from their sleep. I am honored and happy that my death will serve the freedom of Kurdistan.\u201d<\/p>\n
One day before her execution, the Ba\u2019ath regime allowed her family to see her. \u201cDon\u2019t forget to bring scissors and my Kurdish local clothes,\u201d she told her sister during the meeting with her mother and sister. Surprised by her request, her sister asked her, \u201cWhat are the scissors for?\u201d Leyla Qasim told her, \u201cCut a lock of my hair. Let my hair blow in the wind when Kurdistan is liberated and keep my local clothes for this day. That day, I will be the bride of Kurdistan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leyla Qasim and her comrades are immortal in the Kurdish struggle for freedom struggle and are symbols of courage and resistance for every Kurd. Leyla Qasim is the first woman, who was executed in Iraq. \u00a0Many Kurdish families named their children Leyla after her. Every year the anniversary of her death is remembered by many Kurds.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leyla Qasim, who is known as \u201cLeyla of Kurdistan\u201d, \u201cThe hero of her people who love their country\u201d, was executed in Baghdad on May 12, 1987 by the Iraqi Ba’ath regime. Today, she is a symbol of courage and resistance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens-biographies"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2.jpg",990,556,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2.jpg",990,556,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2.jpg",990,556,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2-300x168.jpg",300,168,true],"large":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2.jpg",640,359,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2.jpg",990,556,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2.jpg",990,556,false],"gucherry-blog-thumbnail-one":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2-800x450.jpg",800,450,true],"gucherry-blog-thumbnail-two":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"psacp-medium":["https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2025\/04\/Leyla-Qasim2.jpg",500,281,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/post\/author\/admin-2\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Women's Biographies<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Leyla Qasim, who is known as \u201cLeyla of Kurdistan\u201d, \u201cThe hero of her people who love their country\u201d, was executed in Baghdad on May 12, 1987 by the Iraqi Ba’ath regime. Today, she is a symbol of courage and resistance...","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":877,"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirtukxaneyajinenkurdistan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}