Killing of teenage Iraqi girl exposes western double standards
4 Min Read
Mainstream media did not even call for an investigation into the accusation of US forces carrying out inhumane killings of underage civilians in foreign land.
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An image of martyred Zainab Al-Khazali which circulated on social media.
A 15-year-old Iraqi girl was murdered in cold blood Tuesday, with talks that the murder tool originated from the Victoria military base near Baghdad International Airport.
The young student and farmer, whose name is Zainab Essam Majed Al-Khazali, was killed by a bullet during US military drills in their military base near the Abu Ghraib prison where innocent Iraqis, Arabs, and non-Arabs were tortured and killed when former US president George Bush greenlit the occupation of Iraq.
See more: “I wake up terrified every night”: Abu Ghraib detainee talks to Al Mayadeen
The Iraqi Security Media Cell announced that they have launched an investigation into the murder, which is being described as a "random shooting."
قيادة عمليات بغداد تفتح تحقيقا في حادثة وفاة إحدى الفتيات المرحومة ( زينب عصام ماجد ) منذ يوم وقوعه في قضاء ابو غريب غربي العاصمة والتي أصيبت بإطلاق نار عشوائي...
— خلية الإعلام الأمني🇮🇶 (@SecMedCell) September 20, 2022
The martyr's funeral procession, taking place from 3-6 PM on September, 21, 2022, was shared on social media, mourning her death, with details revealing that she is the granddaughter of martyr Majid Al-Khazali.
Sheikh Qais Al-Khazali, Secretary-General of Asa'ib Ahl Al-Haq, announced that he demands an "immediate" and "urgent" investigation into the killing of the girl, dubbing Washington's actions "an explicit violation of the Iraqi constitution," and a "flagrant breach of Iraqi sovereignty."
— قيس الخزعلي (@Qais_alkhazali) September 20, 2022
There is a deafening media silence regarding the murder, which has been announced almost 24 hours ago. Mainstream media, although known to exploit narratives for regime change and political influence as a soft power tactic, did not exhibit the slightest sense of human decency or empathy or even call for an investigation into the accusation of US forces carrying out inhumane killings of underage civilians in foreign land.
Most recently, in its latest adventures on big media's fake care for women's rights, western media has been capitalizing on the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian journalist, whom Western reports claim was severely beaten to death. However, Iranian reports and videos have been providing evidence of the opposite, notably as images of Amini in a hospital bed displayed no sign of physical violence.
Al Mayadeen learned that Amini was never assaulted, beaten, or abused, and the proof was CCTV footage that slammed Western reports as fake and fabricated. The incident, recorded on CCTV, shows a female police officer approaching Amini and pointing at her hijab. Amini and the officer entered into a verbal disagreement, after which the officer turned around and left Amini alone.
Read more: West politically exploits death of Mahsa Amini through fake news
Western media, on their part, took advantage of the narrative and propagated lies. The double standards are telling of just how humane and empathetic big media really claims to be, noting how tabloids have been ramping up Iranophobic sentiment through spreading falsehood, while ignoring Zainab's death.
The New York Times wrote about "the death on Friday of a 22-year-old woman in Iran after she was detained by the morality police," claiming that "morality police units arbitrarily enforce the rules, and their tactics range from verbal notices to monetary fines, to violently dragging women into vans for detention."
In a similar tone, France 24 wrote, "A young Iranian woman is in a coma and fighting for her life after being arrested in Tehran by the Islamic republic's morality police."
The Guardian, MondAfrique, The World Today, and many others have also adopted that rhetoric and rushed to announce her death all for the sake of targeting Iran's internal policies without awaiting any response from the police or official authorities or even the results of the investigation.
The West has gone as far as exploiting the death of an innocent woman all for the sake of politicizing the incident and pushing further their anti-Iran propaganda, completely turning a blind eye to the truth.
