ADVISORY/Media Advisory: Congressional Briefing.

News Editors/Lifestyle Editors/Political Writers

ADVISORY...for Thursday (March. 6)

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 2003

Real Life Stories of Persecution - The Testimonies of Exiled Iraqi Women

Women for a Free Iraq, a diverse group of Iraqi women, will

meet with House Republican Conference Chairman Deborah Pryce (R-OH) and other congresswomen to share personal stories of suffering under Saddam Hussein's regime and thoughts on democracy in a post-Saddam Iraq. Members of Women for a Free Iraq are expected to meet with the White House and have met with Prime Minister Tony Blair and other European leaders.

   WHO: Confirmed Congresswomen:

        House Republican Conference Chairman Deborah Pryce (R-OH-15)
        U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL-13)
        U.S. Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI-10)

        Additional members of Congress have expressed interest and
        will confirm soon.

        Women for a Free Iraq representatives:

        Zainab Al-Suwaij

        A Shi'a from Southern Iraq, Ms. Al-Suwaij was 20 years old
        when she participated in the 1991 failed uprising against
        Saddam Hussein. She escaped to the United States, where she
        now heads the American Islamic Congress (www.aicongress.org),
        a Boston-based organization dedicated to building interfaith
        understanding.

        Dr. Katrin Michael

        Dr. Katrin Michael is a Chaldean (Christian) from Northern
        Iraq who joined the Peshmurga (Kurdish resistance) movement in
        1982 to fight against Saddam Hussein's regime. A victim of
        chemical bombings by Saddam's forces, she fled Iraq in 1988
        and has been living in the United States since 1997.

        Kanar Sarraj

        A Kurd from Northern Iraq, Kanar Sarraj worked with the United
        States Agency for International Development (USAID) and local
        Iraqi humanitarian organizations in the 1990s, assisting the
        victims of Saddam's 1987-1988 Anfal campaign against the
        Kurds. In 1996, she was threatened by the regime and evacuated
        with her husband by the American government and granted asylum
        in the United States.

        Tanya Gilly

        A Kurd from Northern Iraq, Tanya Gilly comes from a family of
        political activists opposed to Saddam Hussein's rule. Her
        father was arrested on several occasions for his resistance
        activities, and the family was forced to flee Iraq in 1970s.
        Ms. Gilly has worked for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
        (www.puk.org), one of the two parties that governs the Kurdish
        safe haven.

  WHEN: 12:30 p.m. Eastern, Thursday, March 6, 2003

 WHERE: Washington, D.C., Capitol Hill
        The Capitol, Room H-312 (Rules Committee Hearing Room)