Day: May 17, 2009

(Turkey) Top court lenient on ‘honor killing’
— Istanbul: “The top appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision to be lenient on those who are found guilty of honor killing because the two families in Diyarbakir involved in the case faced social estrangement if they had not acted as they did”
— As a result of a rumor that a woman was having an affair, “her husband’s family decided to murder the girl and ordered the 16-year-old brother of the husband to do the deed, hoping the courts would be lenient toward him because of his age”
— “The 16-year-old was given an unregistered gun by his mother, brother and uncle and told to shoot his sister-in-law. He shot her five times in the presence of other family members. His uncle checked the body and told the boy to shoot her a few more times to ensure she was dead.”

(UK) Charity to sue over domestic violence murder victim Sabina Akhtar
— “A charity that campaigns for victims of domestic violence is to sue a police force and the Crown Prosecution Service over allegations that it failed to protect a woman who was murdered by her husband”
— “She went to the police to complain that he had attacked her 25 times and made repeated threats to kill her. On one occasion he had told her to prepare for death by reading passages from the Koran adding: ‘I am going to get a knife and when I return I am going to slaughter you.'”

— “Using both hands to squeeze her windpipe he told her to read her Koran warning: ‘This is your final hour.'”

— BBC report

— UK Guardian report

(Jordan) Two brothers charged with premeditated murder of their married sister
— “claiming to have killed their sister to cleanse their family’s honour”
— “Criminal Prosecutor Ahmad Omari on Sunday charged two brothers with the premeditated murder of their married sister in the latest so-called honour crime, official sources said”
— “The 30-year-old woman, a mother of six, was reportedly stabbed to death with a switchblade, allegedly by her brothers aged, 44 and 19, at her father’s home on Saturday”
— “The victim became the 10th person reportedly murdered for reasons of honour in the Kingdom this year and the second this month”

(Kuwait) Fundamentalists Call for Kuwaiti Women to Boycott Elections
— “Kuwaiti Islamic fundamentalists are urging women candidates and voters not to participate in politics, saying it is anti-Islamic”

The High Cost of Western Idealism: Saving Schoolgirls From Being Poison-Gassed in Afghanistan and Honor-Murdered in Sweden.
— by Phyllis Chesler

(Iran) Rights group urges Iran to release two Christian convert women
— “CSW advocacy director, Tina Lambert said that the group ‘remains deeply concerned for the safety’ of the two women, who had converted from Islam.”
— “Maryam Rostampour, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, were arrested by Iranian security forces on 5 March, after their apartment was searched and their Bibles and other personal items were confiscated”

(Saudi Arabia) Debate in Saudi Arabia over Women in Media
— 35 Saudi clerics “main complaint was that the visibility of women in the media contravened shari’a as well as Saudi law. They also complained that the media was contaminating Saudi society with secular and ‘perverted’ ideas.”

(Canada) ‘Honour killing’ trial hears details of shooting
— Sister Khatera Sadiqi killed by Hasibullah Sadiqi
— Accused in ‘honour killing’ lost control, court told

(Canada) Accused told pal plans to ‘get rid’ of couple
— “‘He asked me if I wanted to go to mosque to say a prayer for her,’ said Fazli. ‘He said, ‘She’ll become a martyr. She’s in paradise now.””
— Sister Khatera Sadiqi killed by Hasibullah Sadiqi

(Canada) Sadiqi troubled by sister’s engagement before killing, trial hears
— Sister Khatera Sadiqi killed by Hasibullah Sadiqi

(Canada) Honour killings ‘act of purifying through blood’: Expert
— “Honour killings involve a cleansing of dishonour aimed at restoring a family’s respect after the so-called ‘misbehaviour’ of female relatives, an expert told the Ottawa murder trial of Hasibullah Sadiqi on Friday.”
— “Shahrzad Mojab, a University of Toronto professor”
— Sister Khatera Sadiqi killed by Hasibullah Sadiqi
— ‘Honour killings’ about men asserting control over women, expert tells Sadiqi murder trial

(Canada) Accused in ‘honour killing’ told friend, ‘I had to do what I had to do,’ trial told
— “Friend described killing sister, fiance, witness testifies”
— Sister Khatera Sadiqi killed by Hasibullah Sadiqi

(Canada) Ottawa Citizen: “Family ‘honour’ will never be a legitimate reason to kill someone, in Canada, or anywhere else.”

(Canada) Mother breaks down during testimony in honour-killing trial
— Khatera Sadiqi killed

(Canada) Brother shot couple in honour killing, jury told
— Khatera Sadiqi killed
— “A witness is expected to testify that Mr. Sadiqi said after the killing that he believed his sister would be a martyr and go to paradise”

(Canada) Ottawa court hears opening statements in alleged ‘honour killing’
— “Assistant Crown attorney Mark Moors told an Ottawa court that Hasibullah Sadiqi shot his sister, Khatera Sadiqi, and her fiance, Feroz Mangal”
— “Sadiqi ‘believed that his sister had brought dishonour on the Sadiqi name,’ Moors said, later adding that a witness is expected to testify that the accused said after the killing that he believed his sister would be a martyr and go to paradise”
— Additional report

(Canada) Tearful mother speaks of abuse at ‘honour killing’ trial

Phyllis Chesler Article on Ottawa Trial Over “Honor Killing”
— “Brother on Trial for Killing Sister in Ottawa: Guess Where He’s Originally From”