Husband murders Dutch woman trying to flee Iraq

A 24-year-old woman from Drachten was murdered by her husband in the north of Iraq on Monday. Husband Raffi A. (33) gunned down his wife Safhinaz Zerrouy because she wanted to return to the Netherlands, the Leeuwarder Courant reports. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to Nu.nl that a Dutch woman was killed in Iraq and that her husband was arrested. "He had her in his power for years", Dina Meyer, Safhinaz' mother said to the Leeuwarder Courant. "Safhinaz was a very happy, loving girl. I think she went to Iraq willingly, but now she wanted to return. Her husband could not accept that." According to the newspaper, A. gunned Safhinaz down with a Kalashnikov on Monday afternoon in Zakho. He fled after the shooting, but was later arrested. Safhinaz and A. had four children. It is unclear what happened to them. A. is an Iraqi Kurd who fled to the Netherlands as a child. He received Dutch nationality.