Honor killings in the southern-coastal Iraqi city of Basra have seen a 70% increase in the past year. And authorities are helpless in the stopping of such crimes and even the prosecution of the culprits.

This year - so far - 81 Iraqi women have been murdered for “honor” reason in the city. Of those murders, only five persons have been convicted.

In the year 2007, 47 honor killings were recorded and only three convictions.

Such horrific cases are similar to that of a young girl. 17-year-old Rand Abdel-Qadar feel in love with a 22-year-old British solider in Basra whom she called Paul. Her father considered such a foreign love have brought shame on the family and so he personally killed her by suffocating her and then cutting her with a knife. her father - Ali Abdel-Qadar - was initially arrested but then released without charge. His wife and her mother - Leila Hussein - divorced him after the murder of her daughter. She was then haunted down and killed by an unknown assassin.

The releasing of men who have committed honor killings is not uncommon. An Iraqi lawyer - speaker to the British daily The Guardian - stated that the police actively protect such killers. Ali Abdel-Qadar himself told The Guardian that the police congratulated him for killing his daughter.

What is also very striking and frightening about such honor killings as who cheap it was become to order a hit on someone. Hitman now can be hired - as in the case of Leila Hussein - for as little at $100.

The murders of Rand and Leila had happened seven months ago - regrettable for many women in Iraq the situation has only gotten worse there since then. Aw, is this the freedom President Bush promised Iraqis? Or do the rights of Iraqi women not matter?