Iraq Gets First Beauty Queen Since 1972

 

It was smoky, alcohol-free and there was no swimsuit contest, but Saturday's party produced the first Miss Iraq in four decades and left all feeling a small victory had been won.

"Some people out there think we don't love life," said Humam al-Obeidi, one of the organisers, as the crowd spilled out of the Baghdad hotel ballroom where the pageant was held.

The jury chose Shaymaa Abdelrahman, a tall, green-eyed 20-year-old from Iraq's multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk.

The decision was popular with those in attendance, especially in the back rows, where young men with hispter beards and tight blazers had been standing on their chairs shouting her name.

The contestants, in high heels and evening dresses, pitched their charity projects to the jury