The Brownsville Herald from Brownsville, Texas • 33

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Muslim women debate safety of hijab amid backlash Doctors still working in Iraq face violence, tribal justice BY SINAN SALAHEDDIN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD For nearly three months, anesthesiologist Bashar Taha lived in fear of deadly retaliation. Taha, 38, was part of a team that performed plastic surgery on a female nose in a Baghdad hospital. The woman had surgery complications afterward and was sent to intensive care, where she died. An autopsy showed bacterial poisoning from the intensive care room caused her death. But the family blamed Taha and the surgeon, demanding their respective tribes arbitrate the case and rule on compensation.

Otherwise, the doctors would face lethal consequences, the family threatened. As Iraq struggles to combat the Islamic State group, which has captured large swaths of territory and plunged the country into the worst political and security crisis since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011, threats against doctors have increased. Research published in the Lancet medical journal estimates more than 2,000 doctors have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.- led invasion. Over the past year, doctors and other medical workers say they are increasingly facing harassment and assaults by disgruntled relatives of patients.

The phenomenon reflects the growing power of tribal rule in the face of weakening central government. Doctors are either turning down cases or seeking work abroad in increasing numbers, further crippling a health care system already plagued by corruption, mismanagement and shortages. Taha, the anesthesiologist, had approached the Iraqi Doctors Syndicate and even clerics, but with little faith in dysfunctional ustice system, they hinted he should work with tribal leaders. Eventually, he and the surgeon paid the family 50 million Iraqi dinars (about are living in a state of lawlessness, the government is barely able to Taha told The Associated Press. we paid in order to save ourselves and our families, or at least to avoid being assaulted or insulted by an uneducated man in the street in front of The deputy head of the Iraqi Doctors Syndicate, Dr.

Mahdi Jassim, said assaults occur a daily basis in almost all medical centers due to the lack of security He called for action from the government to protect the doctors, otherwise we will all Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, professional class has been targeted by militants trying to widen chaos or by gangs extorting the wealthy. Since the 1990s when the country reeled under harsh U.N. economic sanctions about 11,000 doctors have left Iraq, the majority of them after 2003, Health Ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Rudaini said. The medical centers are limping along with only 25 percent of the required staffing, he said. Specific numbers for assaults, kidnappings and killings of medical staff are not available, but al- Rudaini said the issue has become a recently that forces a lot of doctors not to accept major surgeries with high risk or to seek refuge abroad, making it hard for the ministry to persuade those who are abroad to Jassim said every month about 70 to 80 doctors, mostly new graduates, apply to the Iraqi Doctors Syndicate for the documents that are needed to seek obs outside Iraq.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan said a special committee has been established in coordination with the Health Ministry to follow up on the assaults. have increased the number of guards in health institutions and attackers will face tough he said. BY RACHEL ZOLL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK On the night of the California shootings, Asifa Quraishi-Landes sat on her couch, her face in her hands, and thought about what was ahead for her and other Muslim women who wear a scarf or veil in public.

The covering, or hijab, often draws unwanted attention even in the best of times. But after the one-two punch of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks by Islamic militants, and amid an anti-Muslim furor stoked by comments of Donald Trump, Quraishi- Landes, an Islamic law specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wanted to send a message. all my Muslim sisters who wear she wrote on her Facebook page. you feel your life or safety is threatened in any way because of your dress, you have an Islamic allowance (daru- to adjust your clothing accordingly. Your life is more important than your Amid a reported spike in harassment, threats and vandalism directed at American Muslims and at mosques, Muslim women are intensely debating the duty and risks related to wearing their head-coverings as usual.

Sites for Muslim women have posted guidance on how to stay safe. Hosai Mojaddidi, co-founder of the educational group MentalHealth4Muslims, drew nearly 4,000 likes for her Facebook post advising women to out those hooded sweatshirts, beanies, hats and wraps for a while until the dust Muslimgirl.net posted a Safety Manual for Muslim with tips such as wearing a turban instead of a longer more obviously religious scarf and carrying a rape whistle. Muslim women in several cities are organizing or taking self-defense classes. The ad for one such class in New York features a drawing of a covered woman in a karate stance. getting so many said Rana Abdelhamid, 22, founder of the Initiative for Self- Empowerment, which offers self- defense and empowerment classes in several cities for young Muslim and Jewish women who face harassment.

Abdelhamid, a New York native attending the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, said she had studied karate since childhood and started offering self-defense classes for women after a man tried to pull off her headscarf when she was 16 years old. now when I think about that moment I have a lot of anxiety moving through the streets to this day especially with all of the hateful rhetoric because, I know, is it going to happen she said. The question of whether to wear the hijab is already deeply sensitive for Muslim women. Scholars have debated for years whether women have a religious obligation to dress a particular way. And Muslims disagree over whether the hijab is a symbol of piety or oppression.

Women who wear a scarf or veil say they have many motivations for doing so, including demonstrating devotion to their faith and showing pride in their religious heritage. Their decision makes them among the most visible representatives of Islam, in a way that men with beards Well before the latest uproar, it was common for American Muslim women wearing the hijab to be stared or cursed at, or have strangers tug at their scarves. Now, many Muslim women say this is the exact moment when they need to make their presence known by wearing the hijab without any modification as an act of defiance. Suehaila Amen, a community activist in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, said that was the reaction from women she knows around Detroit. Amen said she would never take of her headscarf, but said she has the advantage of living in an area with one of the largest concentrations Arabs and Muslims in the country.

Still, she and her sister plan to take a self- defense class this weekend because of the furor. Amen regularly travels to give public talks. TIM GALLOWAY ASSOCIATED PRESS Suehaila Amen, coordinator of International Admissions and Recruitment at the University of Michigan Dearborn, is seen on campus on Dec. 10 in Dearborn, Mich..