ISIS Have Threatened To Kidnap The First Miss Iraq Since 1972 In Terrifying Phone Call

#1 ‘Miss Iraq’ hasn’t happened in over 40 years, but this year the competition went ahead and was won by 20-year-old Shaymaa Qasim Abdelrahman. She beat nine other Iraqi woman to claim the crown.However, as soon as she returned home after her victory she received a threatening phone call from someone who was claiming to represent the so called Islamic State. They told her that she had to join the group or risk being kidnapped by them.

According to The Independent, the pageant's organisers said the newly crowned Iraqi beauty was distressed by the call but was determined to "continue forward despite any obstacles." The pageant was rife with controversy after over 150 women applied to participate. NBC News reported that backlash from religious hardliners forced 15 contestants to drop out of the competition.

#2 Miss Abdelrahman was obviously distressed but remained defiant:

#3 Abdelrahman is a strong advocator of woman’s rights and her stance has to be admired. She’s living in a country that has a very mixed opinion on how woman should be treated and her liberal stance is something that should be encouraged.

#4 The whole contest has been riddled with controversy since it was first announced. The event organisers adapted rounds like the swimsuit competition, to make sure it didn’t upset those with Muslim beliefs. However the fact they are in the public eye and are not wearing a hijab is already way to far for religious hardliners.

#5 Event organisers said:

Qassim told NBC News that beauty queen from Kirkuk, Iraq had to convince her parents to allow her to enter the pageant after initially forbidding her from participating. "In the past I heard that such contests used to be held in BaghdadI dreamed of being a part of one of these contests." She added that she believed Iraqis were "badly in need of such a cultural activities" after years of war and bloodshed.

It is essential that liberal attitudes are encouraged in the region. Woman who are living in the Caliphate of the so called Islamic State are not allowed to appear in public without a chaperone, have to wear a full Burca and are subjected to brutal punishments if they disobey their husbands.

This is no way for woman to be treated.

ISIS make over 80 million dollars a month and kidnap is one of the main ways they are able to generate this huge income.