In Memory of

Fern Holland

Women's Rights Advocate Among Dead in Iraq

Attorney Fern Holland, 33, center, is pictured in this undated photo in Iraq released by her family. Holland, another American civilian and a translator were killed in Iraq Tuesday, March 9, 2004 after several gunmen posing as Iraqi police officers stopped her vehicle at a makeshift checkpoint near the town of Hillah, about 35 miles south of Baghdad. As a member of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Holland helped write the women's rights section of the new Iraqi constitution, family members said.The men at left and right in the photo are not identified. (AP Photo)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Lawyer Fern Holland went to Iraq to help the nation's women: She investigated human-rights violations, set up conferences and assisted in writing the women's rights section of the new constitution.

"If I die, know that I'm doing precisely what I want to be doing," Holland wrote in an e-mail to a friend on Jan. 21.

Holland was one of three civilians killed Tuesday after several gunmen posing as Iraqi police officers stopped her vehicle at a makeshift checkpoint near the town of Hillah, about 35 miles south of Baghdad.

Holland and a second victim were the first U.S. civilians working for the U.S. occupation authority to be killed in Iraq. The identity of a third victim, a translator, was not immediately released.

Holland's family believes she was targeted by assassins because of her work, which included opening women's centers around Iraq.

"She believed in freedom. She believed that every man and woman born should enjoy the right of freedom," her sister Vi Holland said.

L. Paul Bremer, the top administrator in Iraq, has requested that the FBI investigate the slayings. It was not yet known whether the gunmen were specifically targeting coalition officials.

Holland, a 1996 graduate of the University of Tulsa College of Law, worked at two law firms in Tulsa before joining the Peace Corps and traveling to Namibia.

She returned to the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but did not stay long.

Tulsa attorney Stephen Rodolf, who kept in touch with Holland through e-mail, said she seemed to be aware of growing threats to her safety.

"We stand out, and those who dislike us know precisely when we come to town," she wrote to him.

Her job required her to travel almost every day on highways where snipers and roadside bombs lurked. And yet, she asked to travel with an unarmed escort because she felt the high security around her was a barrier to her work, he said.

"She was an extraordinary person who honestly wanted to help people," Rodolf said. "Anybody who knew her would tell you that."

03/11/04 16:54 EST

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

The family of an Oklahoma woman executed by terrorists in Iraq believes she was targeted because of her work on the Iraqi constitution. Fern Holland was a civilian employee of the Department of Defense. She was shot to death by men disguised as Iraqi police in an attack south of Baghdad. News on 6 anchor Craig Day was the only Tulsa reporter to talk with Holland's brother Wednesday night. Since his sister's death, Joe Holland has been looking at old photos and reliving memories. He says Fern was always willing to help others, especially those in need. "The world was a better place with her in it. There are people like that." Fern Holland's death made headlines. But it's her courageous life that her friends want remembered. News on 6 anchor Terry Hood sat down Thursday with some of Fern's former co-workers. The mood at Tulsa law firm Conner and Winters was very somber Thursday. Fern Holland left the firm several ago, but still corresponded with several friends there. They say Fern knew she was in danger, but stayed in Iraq because she believed she could make a difference. Fern Holland was described by her former boss as a rising star at Conner and Winters, but she left to pursue another calling, the Peace Corps. She lived a life of service, working as a teacher in southern Africa and establishing a legal aid clinic for refugees in Guinea. It was her belief in the rights of all people, particularly women, which led her to Iraq. Jim Green, her former boss, says Fern started out investigating human rights violations in northern Iraq and ended up working to include women in Iraq's new government. It was a mission her friends believe cost Fern Holland her life. "Certainly its our belief that its these efforts as we all know are very unpopular with certain elements of Iraqi society that marked her and put a target on her." Friend Susan Dittrich: "She said always remember I'm doing what I love and I am where I need to be." By all accounts Fern Holland was an amazing woman, and touched lives literally all over the world. Fern Holland  (Photo: CBS)

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