Note: The name has been changed, but the facts have not.

For many years Yasmin led a fulfilling life with multiple roles in her native Iraq – mother of two independent young women, devoted wife, and talented engineer.

After graduating from university in Baghdad, Yasmin worked as a chemical engineer. She managed water treatment for several hotels in Iraq. She also worked with a doctor who owned a business selling goods and materials for water treatment. She continued her relationship with the doctor for years, even after moving on to different jobs. 

One day, Yasmin received a disturbing phone call from an unknown man demanding that she talk with the doctor and convince him to give them chemicals. She spoke with the doctor, who assured her there was nothing to worry about. 

Terrorists soon killed the doctor because he refused to give them chemicals, then the doctor’s brother for the same reason. They contacted Yasmin and said they would kill her too if she did not cooperate.

Meanwhile, Yasmin’s two daughters were highly educated, freethinking women in Iraq. Because they did not cover themselves with hijabs, they received threats from men. Yasmin worried that she and her daughters would eventually be killed. 

In 2016, Yasmin and her daughter fled to Seattle, and in October of that year, LCSNW’s Safe Route Immigration program filed an asylum application for them. In May 2020, they all were granted asylee status. Yasmin hopes to reunite with her husband; he was separated from the family when they left Iraq due to his employment as the chief officer of a ship. 

‍