Month: February 2010

— Hurriyet: “Girl buried alive in honor killing in Turkey”
— Hurriyet reports “A 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives in southeastern Turkey in a gruesome honor killing carried out because she reportedly befriended boys, the Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.”
— “Acting on a tip, police discovered the body of the girl, identified only as M.M., in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a 2-meter-deep hole dug under a chicken pen outside her house in Kahta, a town in the southeastern province of Adıyaman, the news agency reported.”
— “The body was found in December, around 40 days after M.M. went missing. She is being identified by her initials because she was under the age of 18. Her father and grandfather are suspected in the murder.”
— “A subsequent postmortem examination revealed that M.M. had a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she was buried alive and conscious, forensic experts told the news agency. ‘The autopsy result is blood-curdling. According to our findings, the girl – who had no bruises on her body and no sign of narcotics or poison in her blood – was alive and fully conscious when she was buried,’ one anonymous expert said.”
— “The girl’s father and grandfather have been formally arrested and jailed pending trial over her killing, according to the agency. The father is reported to have said in his testimony that the family was unhappy that M.M. had male friends.”
— “The girl was reported as missing and no clues about her disappearance were found for 40 days. Her mother was arrested along with the father, Ayhan, and grandfather, Memi, but later released. The two men were sent to prison by a local court and did not speak in the court.”
— “Police had found the body of the girl using an anonymous tip saying that M.M. had been killed based on a decision by a family council and buried under the chicken pen, daily Milliyet reported. The family has nine children, including the girl, and was reported to have told neighbors that she was missing. The girl had made a complaint to police about her grandfather two months before she went missing, saying that he beat her because she talked to boys.'”

— see also R.E.A.L. postings:

Turkey: Bliss: Turkish hit ducks hot issues of honor killings

Turkey: Mysterious deaths could be honor killings, says report

Turkey: 19 Year Old Girl Murdered in “Honor Killing” — Prosecution Seeks Life Sentence for Father, Uncle

Turkey: Lawyers: Abused Turkish woman in hiding — Nahide Opuz

Turkey: More reports of “honor killings” in Turkey

Europe: Number of “Honor Killings’ in Europe Higher Than Thought

Turkey: Top court lenient on ‘honor killing’

Turkey — Extremists Criticize “Feminist” Reporting on So-Called “Honor Killings”

The dirty secret of Turkey’s honour killings

Turkey: Poll — Over a Quarter Support “Honor Killings”

Report on preliminary hearing in death of three teenage girls described by police as “Honor Killing” — Zainab, Sahari and Geeti Shafia

CTV Montreal reports:

— “A preliminary hearing began on Tuesday in the case of three Montrealers charged in the deaths of four family members.”
— “Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, and their son Hamed Shafia were transported under police escort from the Quinte Detention Centre in Kingston, Ontario to the Kingston Courthouse.”
— “The three are accused of killing the couple’s three teenaged daughters — Zainab, Sahari and Geeti — and Shafia’s 50-year-old first wife, Rona Amir Mohammad.”
— “Their bodies were found June 30 in a car submerged in a lock on the Rideau Canal.”
— “The family members were later charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.”
— “Details of testimony under publication ban”
— “After swearing in translators for the three accused — who speak an Afghan dialect of Farsi — the crown questioned a Kingston police identification officer about 159 photos taken at various locations in Montreal and the Kingston area.”
— “At one point in the testimony, at least one of the parents sobbed quietly. Though police investigated claims the deaths were so-called honour killings, the crown has yet to spell out any motive or cause of deaths.”
— “In the afternoon, the court heard from a police officer who interrogated Tooba Mohammad Yahya in Farsi, but the details of that and other testimony are under a publication ban.”
— “The mother is the only one of the three accused who had not conceded that there was enough evidence to go to trial.”
— “The defence lawyers said they had not yet received all the evidence but were allowing the preliminary hearing to continue.”
— “The hearing is expected to last at least one month.”

— July 31, 2009 – National Post: “Kingston canal victim made several attempts to marry: report”

— July 28, 2009 – Montreal Gazette: A timeline of the Kingston canal deaths

— July 24, 2009 – National Post: “Family’s plans to murder daughters, first wife hatched months before: police”

— July 24, 2009 – Globe & Mail: Car landed in canal via unlikely route – excerpt – image

Globe & Mail: Police are left to sort through a myriad of theories, each with glaring problems and unlikely probabilities.

“We’re still trying to ascertain the why, the why, the why,” said Constable Menor, a 20-year veteran of the force. “It’s the unknowns. I can’t recall anything like it. It was there for a reason, it didn’t drop out of the sky.” …With picnic tables along the canal shore, the tourists from Montreal may have stopped for a moment before the plunge. But 3 a.m. would be an unusual time for a picnic in the secluded spot.

Perhaps the driver didn’t know the canal was there, or perhaps she didn’t care. Police have not excluded a suicide pact, murder-suicide or something as simple as the bad luck of a misguided U-turn or mistaking “drive” for “reverse.”

Another possibility is that the passengers were already dead and someone else pushed the Nissan into the canal, with the four females inside.

— July 23, 2009 – Canada: “Honor Killing” Investigated in Death of Three Montreal Sisters

— Montreal Gazette: — “Zainab Shafia, 19, and her two sisters Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, were found dead inside a car submerged in three feet of water northeast of Kingston on June 30. Rona Amir Mohammed, 52, was also found dead in the car.”

— July 23, 2009 – CTV: “Father, Mother, Brother charged with killing members of their own family”

— July 23, 2009 – Kingston Police News Conference