Fereshteh Bakhishi

Fereshteh Bakhishi was born on May 28, 1950, in Khoshgan village in western Kurdistan province. Her father, Haj Mohammad, was a Sunni cleric working as a farmer. Her mother, a homemaker, was a devout Muslim who did her best in upbringing her children. She studied until the fifth grade of elementary school but failed to continue her studies as it was not conventional for girls to study in secondary and high schools at that time. Raised in a Muslim devout family, Fereshteh was acquainted with Quran since childhood and managed to memorize 15 chapters of this holy book.

In 1979, Fereshteh married Mr. Mardouki, a Sunni cleric in Kurdistan who held the permission to explain and answer the religious questions of people. The couple relocated to Iraq and stayed there for three years. In 1984, they returned to Naneh village near Mariwan.

Having learned the religious sciences under the teachings of her husband, Fereshteh tried to reach out to the poor according to the Islamic teachings. The underprivileged knew that if they approached her house for help, she would definitely solve their financial problems. This made their house a shelter for the poor, war-ravaged people after the separatists’ riots in Kurdistan.

Feeling threatened by the activities of Fereshteh and her husband, members of the Komala Party gradually set their hearts on annihilating them. On August 22, 1987, some of the members of the terrorist group broke into Mr. Mardouki’s house and abducted the couple. Resisting the terrorists’ struggles to separate her from her husband, Fereshteh, seven-months pregnant, was shot to death.

After killing her, terrorists beheaded her with stone out of their grudge against the brave woman. Her husband was released after 120 days of severe torture.