Ellee Seymour

Let’s hope our jails are never too full for the viscous bullies who beat up women. In Norfolk alone, there have been 10 cases of domestic violence reported to police every day over the last six months – but the real figure is much higher as so many are not reported.

In fact, according to Women’s Aid, an average woman experiences 35 violent and abusive attacks in seven years before walking out.

An horrific attack in Norwich has been splashed on the front page of today’s Eastern Daily Press, reporting how the county has seen three high profile convictions for domestic violence in less than a week. Yesterday 21-year-old Christopher Bates, from Norwich, became the latest to be jailed. He was jailed for six years after admitting subjecting his ex-girlfriend to 17 hours of “unmitigated and sadisticâ€? torture while her two-year-old daughter looked on.

In April, Norwich will get its own dedicated domestic violence court to make processing prosecutions less stressful. This is a terrifying prospect for victims, they do not want to face their attacker again and need to be able to give evidence from behind a screen, I hope this facility will be available to them.

Bates’ victim is slowly recovering from her horrendous trauma, which included having her head shaved and being told she would be set on fire if he had some petrol; using cigarette lighter fluid to burn her hair clippings and clothes and trying to burn her legs and face; describing horrifically how he planned to rape  her; taking her asthma inhaler before pushing her head into sofa cushions in an attempt to suffocate her. Her young daughter was forced to watch many of his monstrous attacks.

Fortunately, his victim is beginning to recover and has praised police for their support, which is so crucial in these cases, it takes so much bravery for a victim to step forward, they  need to be believed and helped. Two women a week are killed because of domestic violence, it will affect 1 in 4 women in their lifetime.

I have no idea what makes young men end up as such a drugs-fuelled sadistic monster, the kind of childhood Bates had. How can someone like him be rehabilitated in jail? Can he change? And how can more victims of domestic violence be persuaded to report their attacks to police?

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The deputy editor of a political magazine based North of Iraq has emailed me some questions regarding the future of his country, with an emphasis on Kurdistan, the language in which it is printed. 

Farhad M. Hassan has also  interviewed experts from Chatham House and the Council on Foreign Relations for his weekly publication. I thought it would be helpful to include your views too, so please feel free to respond to any of the questions. An English version of the Gulan media website is under construction, so you may be able to see your published there in the near future:

1- All events, opinions, and analyses of all experts indicated that Bush’s new strategy in Iraq will fail, so here I ask how do you see Iraq ’s future?

2- In this bad situation, Kurdistan is a stable region, if He decided for independence as you did, we know that Kurdistan have been rounded by enemies, you are also rounded by enemies, how could you protect your self we want you to tell us your opinion for Kurdistan to protect himself.

3- Iran with USA are about to pass into new level, and they are about to face each other, so do you think that Iraqi land will become a battle field of USA war with Iran ?

4- Turkey now is convinced that he can not involve in Iraqi internal affairs, and now he requests dialogue with Iraqi Kurdistan leaders, so do you think that Turkey idea will get over military staff in turkey?

* Turkey is regional super power country in Middle East, and has lots effects on the area, he is the most important neighbor country to Iraq, so here I ask what role can turkey play in developing democracy and economy of the area?

*Turkey has direct contact with Kurdistan region in Iraq, so Turkey should have a establish this relation?good and friendly relation with Iraqi Kurds, so do you think that turkey will be able to

5- Now Iraq has reached the level that winning of USA in this area is impossible, so now they think just to obstruct disasters from happening, so now Iraq is about to face a humanitarian disaster, and in this situation International community can not keep silent with out caring, so how can International community be helpful in the situation?

6- Many experts think that the former Yugoslavia’s scenario is repeating in Iraq, in this situation Iraq will be separated into three different states, we know that Shitta area will be supported by Iran, and Sunni area will be supported by all Arab states, in this situation Kurds will remain lonely, so in the case of separation of Iraq in to those three states, can Kurds depend on USA? Or how shall Kurds behave?

7- Iraqi division is already a disaster for the whole region, if Iraq divided, is there any other alternative plans from International community for preventing the chaos in the whole area?

8- Iraqi Kurdistan region contains 6% of world’s stored oil, now Kurdistan region situation is stable, so if violence reached into Kurdistan region, the oil price will increase and it will effect world’s economy, how international community will be helpful in preventing this situation from happening?

9-What’s your recommendation for Kurdish leaders to do in this situation and to protect the Kurdistan region in current situation?

Farhad M. Hassan
Deputy editor in chief
Gulan political weekly magazine

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