2 True Stories of Domestic Violence and Betrayal

1985 Iraqi Women's Division

This is a true story that happened in 1985, specifically on Friday, March 1, 1985. The victim was Hadi Awad Saeed, the assistant cultural attaché of the Iraqi embassy in Kuwait, and his wife Atiya Shanbar.

On that Friday night, as usual, Hadi liked to stay out late drinking with his friends. However, on this particular night, he told his friends that he wanted to stay home and drink with his wife Atiya. After drinking, Hadi went to sleep while Atiya stayed in the living room waiting to watch a late-night horror movie.

Two men then entered the house through the kitchen door. They threatened Atiya not to move, went upstairs to Hadi's bedroom and shot him dead. They also went to the bedroom of Hadi's older son, around 17-18 years old, and shot him dead as well, likely to eliminate any witnesses. Atiya hid her younger son and daughter in a closet during the incident.

The investigation found that both Hadi and his son were killed by bullets from the same gun, contradicting Atiya's claim that there were two separate shooters. Atiya later fled to Iraq before she could be properly interrogated.

Years later, a former Iraqi intelligence officer named Mizhar Al-Dulaimi, in his book "Death Station," revealed the shocking truth. Atiya Shanbar was actually a recruited member of the Iraqi intelligence "Women's Division." She was instructed to kill her husband Hadi and her older son herself, as Hadi had angered Saddam Hussein by drifting away from the Baath party. Atiya shot them both while they were asleep, faked the home invasion story, and even pretended to grieve in front of Saddam, who secretly commended her loyalty to the party.

Salha Domestic Violence

There is an Emirati girl named Salha. She lives with her American mother, Emirati father, and four brothers. Salha is now on trial for first-degree murder and has been sentenced to execution by her father and four brothers who demanded retribution.

According to Salha's statements and the court's findings after several trials and crime scene reenactments, Salha is in her early 20s. She suffered from domestic issues and claimed she was subjected to harsh treatment and abuse from her family members, especially her Americanized mother.

Years ago, her mother forced Salha to drop out of school, saying she was useless without an education. She made Salha work like a maid and was constantly threatened with being beaten by her father. Salha said her father had stabbed her once after her mother complained about her behavior.

Salha was afraid of her father, despite him living separately on the upper floor. She was deprived of going outside, entertainment, technology, social media, and the outside world. For three to four years, as a girl in her 20s, she was cut off from the outside world, feeling oppressed and suffering daily.

In May 2022, Salha's mother called her downstairs. Fearing her mother only summoned her to mistreat her, Salha went trembling. Her mother yelled at her, insulted her, and threatened to have her father stab her again like the previous time.

In a moment of anger, fear, and impulsiveness, Salha grabbed a knife her mother was using to cut fruit and stabbed her mother in the neck repeatedly - six fatal stabs in total, while her mother screamed. Realizing what she had done, Salha stabbed herself in the thigh to make it look like self-defense, claiming her mother had attacked her first.

When her father and siblings arrived, Salha lied that she had killed her mother in self-defense. However, the court found the crime was premeditated based on the number of stabs and her self-inflicted wound's location appearing staged for her story.

Despite her circumstances, Salha was convicted of premeditated murder. Her father and four brothers demanded she be executed, showing no leniency. The narrator expresses sadness for Salha's situation and hopes her family spares her life, advocating against harshness toward children that could drive them to such acts.