Showing posts with label honor killings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label honor killings. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Friday, October 07, 2016
Pakistan Adopts New Law to Tackle Honour Killings
Friday, September 09, 2016
Monday, April 30, 2012
DETROIT FREE PRESS: Anti-Islam advocates from across the U.S. gathered Sunday in Dearborn for a conference to bring attention to what they say is a problem of Muslim honor killings.
About 150 gathered at the Hyatt in Dearborn for the Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference, named after a 20-year-old Arab-American Muslim woman who was killed by her stepfather last year in Warren.
But at another conference in Detroit, about 100 people gathered earlier in the day to oppose the anti-Islam conference, saying it was the latest attack on metro Detroit's Arab-American and Muslim communities. Dearborn has the highest concentration of Arab-Americans in the U.S., many of them Muslim.
"We stand for America," said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab-American News, at a panel at the DoubleTree hotel in Detroit. "And they (anti-Muslim activists) stand against America and against the American way of life." » | Niraj Warikoo | Detroit Free Press Staff Writer | Monday, April 30, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Hundreds of young female immigrants are hiding from their families in Germany after fleeing oppression, physical violence and even death threats. Charities and social workers help the women get new identities and build independent lives for themselves, but the risk of revenge from honor-obsessed relatives remains.
Bahar ran away early on a winter morning, one-and-a-half years after her mother was murdered. She helped her younger siblings get ready for school, and then she gave them a goodbye kiss on the forehead. Her uncle and her brothers were still sleeping. Bahar tiptoed out of the apartment in her socks, walked down the stairs and out the door. And then she ran for her life.
Today Bahar is 26 and likes to wear high-heeled shoes. She has chosen a popular café in a small city as a meeting point. She is wearing a modest amount of makeup, and her black hair is pulled back into a bun. She smiles tentatively and introduces herself, using the name in her new passport, which, for her protection, cannot be used in this article.
Bahar's family came to Germany from Iraq in 1996. They lived in the eastern city of Halle an der Saale for the first two years, in an apartment in a high-rise building with a dingy kitchen. Her father felt that most jobs were beneath him, beat his wife and "put out cigarettes on her skin," says Bahar. The father would sometimes disappear for months at a time. Bahar suspects that he was involved in criminal activities. "Everything was always peaceful without him. We even had a picnic in the park once," says Bahar. She took along some of the photos from that day when she ran away, but she can't bear to look at them, she says.
During those happy times, when she was alone with her six children, Bahar's mother came to the conclusion that she wanted to separate from her despotic husband. She went to the local town hall with Bahar to get information about German divorce law. When the father found out about it, he took a knife and locked himself in the bedroom with his wife on a summer night in 2003. Bahar holds up her hands to show us two scars: the evidence of her attempt to save her mother.
With the mother dead and the father sentenced to life in prison, an uncle took control of Bahar and her five siblings. He managed to make a caring and thoughtful impression on the youth welfare office, but it was deceptive. He used to turn up the music before he began beating the children. Bahar used makeup to hide the bruises. "I wasn't allowed to read books, and I couldn't even go out on the balcony anymore," she says. "Just cook, do the laundry and clean."
Bahar endured her life as a virtual slave for a year and a half. "Then I knew that I would either kill myself or leave." » | Antje Windmann | Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Mr. Harper visited a Montreal centre for victims of family violence Friday to denounce crimes against women and girls committed in the name of “honour.”
He called honour crimes “barbaric” and “heinous” before promising nearly $350,000 to help fund a program led by The Shield of Athena Family Services to prevent these practices in the city.
“Recently, the tragedy of the Shafia girls touched Canadians profoundly,” Mr. Harper said in a speech at a community centre.
“All Canadians, regardless of the colour of their skin or which god is in their prayers, have the inalienable right to security and life.
“It's our homework to ensure that the victims of these incomprehensible murders did not suffer for nothing.” » | Andy Blatchford | Montreal | The Canadian Press | Friday, March 16, 2012
Friday, March 02, 2012
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: British Crown lawyers are trained in bringing perpetrators of “honour crimes” to justice. Immigrant boys in Sweden perform in plays against domestic violence. Muslim interest groups who challenge such violence have formed in the United States.
This is all taking place because young, immigrant women were so gruesomely sent to their graves by male relatives that people in these countries banded together to say “never again.”
And now, observers are asking which long-term lessons Canada will learn from the Shafia trial. How will police, teachers, social workers, and immigrants join forces to prevent any more women from meeting horrific fates?
“The lesson for me in this very sad story is, if we want to keep the legacy of Sahar, Zainab, Rona, and Geeti alive, we have to look at the issue as a national issue – a national project,” said Shahrzad Mojab, a University of Toronto expert who served as a prosecution witness.
Sunday’s first-degree murder convictions in the quadruple-homicide case have been eye-opening for Canadians – not least because the three perpetrators and four victims all came from the same nuclear family. The trial not only aired the facts of the crime, but also glaring deficits in Canada’s ability to safeguard vulnerable women and children.
Missed signals and squandered opportunities are, tragically, recurring themes in “honour” killings. When family patriarch Mohammad Shafia began threatening the lives of his daughters and first wife, the victims did not know where to turn. Some eventually sought help, only to encounter skeptical officials who failed to grasp the gravity of their peril. » | Colin Freeze | Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2012; updated: Wednesday, February 01, 2012
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: No culture experts required for ‘honour’ crimes: Male authoritarianism and control are deeply embedded in many cultures. A close study of Canada’s South Asian communities will reveal that male authoritarian inclinations are hidden deep beneath the displays of higher education and affluence. The greatest facilitators of this control are women themselves, who are coerced into silent acceptance. The convictions in the Shafia trial present an opportunity to lead the examination to the correct place. ¶ As Sunday’s conviction spread around the country, it released a gamut of emotional responses. Vilification, affirmation of human rights, grief for three beautiful teenagers and a spurned first wife. Justice had to be meted out and so it was. Meanwhile, the ready acceptance that this murder came from the mind of an Afghan patriarch gave air to a fabricated concept that the act was linked to a light-filled term called “honour.” » | Nazneen Sheikh * | Wednesday, February 01, 2012
* Nazneen Sheikh’s latest book is Moon Over Marrakech, a memoir.
Related »
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
An award-winning film partly inspired by Yildiz's story, which opened in dozens of cinemas across Turkey last week, is putting the spotlight on gays in a Muslim country that is seeking European Union membership but remains influenced by conservative and religious values.
The film "Zenne Dancer" — or male belly dancer — is not the nation's first gay-themed movie but is the first to explore the little-known phenomenon of men killed by family members for being gay. So-called honor killings in Turkey usually target women accused of disgracing the family.
"Our main aim was to convey Ahmet's story, but by doing so we also wanted to expose the pressure the (gay and lesbian community) faces from their family, the society and the state," said Mehmet Binay, who co-directed and produced the film with his partner, Caner Alper. » | Suzan Fraser, Associated Press | Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Saturday, December 03, 2011
The number of women and girls in the UK suffering violence and intimidation at the hands of their families or communities is increasing rapidly, according to figures revealing the nationwide scale of "honour" abuse for the first time.
Statistics obtained under the Freedom of Information Act about such violence – which can include threats, abduction, acid attacks, beatings, forced marriage, mutilation and murder – show that in the 12 police force areas for which comparable data was available, reports went up by 47% in just a year.
The figures, shared with the Guardian by the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (Ikwro), also reveal that a small number of forces – including four in Scotland – are still not collecting data on how often such violence occurs.
The 39 police forces that gave Ikwro figures recorded 2,823 incidents in 2010. Ikwro estimates that another 500 crimes in which police were involved were committed in the 13 force areas that did not provide data.
But this is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg, campaigners say, as so many incidents go unreported because of victims' fears of recriminations. » | Rachel Williams | Saturday, December 03, 2011
MAIL ONLINE: Alarming rise in Muslim honour killings as thousands of cases reported to police last year » | Daily Mail Reporter | Saturday, December 03, 2011
Saturday, July 31, 2010
HT: Jihad Watch >>>
Monday, May 24, 2010
RUSSIA TODAY: Muslim girls fall victim to honor killings: The United Nations says that over five thousand women and children die every year in so-called "honor killings", often where family members kill women who refuse to enter forced marriages. >>> | Published Monday, June 22, 2010; Edited Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 08, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Tulay Goren’s death won’t be the last so long as misplaced cultural sensitivity stops us acting against forced marriages
Twice, in the weeks before she was murdered by her father, Tulay Goren told the police that she feared for her life. And twice she was ignored. Mehmet Goren, who was convicted of murder yesterday, killed his 15-year-old daughter because she had fallen in love with an “unsuitable” older man. To Mehmet, the affair made her a “worthless commodity” who could not be married off for a £5,000 dowry. The authorities did nothing to protect her, even though the police became involved when her father attacked her boyfriend, and even though Mehmet demanded in front of police officers that his daughter take a virginity test. Only a decade after her murder in 1999 has justice been done.
“Honour killings” in Britain? Impossible. To many people the case of Tulay Goren will come as a shock, but not to me. I know from personal experience, and from working with victims, that such “honour” crimes are a huge social problem in this country. The shame is not just that it is happening on such a large scale, but that it is so often covered up for fear of upsetting cultural sensibilities. Serious crimes are being treated as a matter for diversity officers rather than for the police and the courts.
There are measures in place to help potential victims of honour crimes, but they are not being used to anything like the extent that they should be. In 2007 Parliament passed the Forced Marriage Act, which enables magistrates to issue protection orders to stop women and girls being married against their will. If necessary, victims, a third of whom are under 16, can be taken into care. Passports can be confiscated, and parents can be forced to reveal the whereabouts of daughters who have gone missing from school, most likely because they have been taken abroad to be coerced into marriage. According to a recent Home Affairs Select Committee report, 2,500 British girls have gone missing from schools and are believed to be at risk. It is not part of anyone’s culture to be abused >>> Jasvinder Sanghera | Friday, December 18, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Special protection orders save nine-year-olds from forced marriages >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Friday, January 08, 2010
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
MAIL ONLINE: Police have seen 'honour' crime surge by 40 per cent due to rising fundamentalism, new figures show.
Honour-based violence, including crimes like murder, rape and kidnap has rocketed in London during the past year.
Reported instances of intimidation and attempts at forced marriage have also increased by 60 per cent.
A report into the scale of the problem by Scotland Yard found there were 161 honour-based incidents recorded in 2007-8, of which 93 were criminal offences.
But in 2008/9 the number of incidents had risen to 256, with 132 being criminal offences.
The latest figures indicate that the trend is continuing, with 211 incidents reported in the last six months until October, of which 129 were offences - more than double the number in the same period last year.
Police define honour crimes as offences motivated by a desire to protect the honour of a family or community.
Diana Nammi, of the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation, said the group is now dealing with four times more complaints relating to honour than two years ago.
She said: 'More women are coming forward. They are becoming more aware of their rights in the UK, that there is help available and they feel confident enough to report matters to the police.
'But I also think cases and violence are increasing.
'One reason is the rise in fundamentalism. The problem is increasing in communities around the UK.
'We are seeing a rise not only in honour killings, but also in female genital mutilation and polygamy.' Honour crime up by 40% due to rising fundamentalism >>> Rebecca Camber | Monday, December 07, 2009
Sunday, December 06, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Queen Rania of Jordan is challenging Islamic hardliners by supporting tougher sentences for men who commit 'honour killings'.
On one side is the fashionably dressed Queen Rania of Jordan, an elegant symbol of progressive values for Arab women. On the other are her country's conservative social and religious leaders.
At stake is a political test case for reform in the Middle East, one that pits demands for greater democracy against the need to end the scandal of so-called honour killings of women.
Queen Rania, who regularly appears without head-scarf, let alone hijab [sic?], has given her quiet support to women's rights groups who want to change laws amounting to legal impunity for men involved in honour killings.
But standing against is are another symbol of the country's attempts to show a progressive face. Jordan's MPs, who have been given more power to hold the government and royal family to account than in other Arab countries, have shown little enthusiasm for the moves.
"This whole issue is being exaggerated, and the reason behind it is not innocent," said Sheikh Hamza Mansour, leader of the parliament's Islamic Action Front. His coalition of Islamist and tribal representatives has so far blocked an attempt to introduce tougher sentences for men who have killed their sisters and daughters for bringing "shame" on their families.
"It's as if the government is giving up our personality to turn us into a Westernised society," he said.
The practice of honour killing is more often associated with impoverished and remote areas of countries like Pakistan than cities like Amman, Jordan's sophisticated and Westernised capital.
But it was in Amman's outskirts that Abu Ishmael and his three brothers recently picked up their sister after a call from her husband, took her home, and stabbed her to death. >>> Richard Spencer in al-Baq'a | Sunday, December 06, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Police doubt city man a threat to teenage Christian convert
A Northeast Side 17-year-old who ran away, saying that her father would kill her for leaving Islam, is in state custody in Florida.
But Sgt. Jerry Cupp of the missing-persons unit of the Columbus police special-victims bureau, disputes Fathima Rifqa Bary's allegation. He said her father, Mohamed Bary, appears to be a loving parent who knew about her conversion to Christianity months ago.
The New Albany High School cheerleader, who goes by Rifqa, disappeared on July 19, prompting fears that she had been abducted, Cupp said.
Authorities soon found that she was staying with a married couple who pastor a church in Orlando.
"She was petrified that her dad would kill her," said the Rev. Beverly Lorenz, who leads Global Revolution Church in Orlando along with her husband, the Rev. Blake Lorenz.
Mrs. Lorenz met the girl through a Facebook prayer group. Lorenz barely knew the girl, she said, but took her in when she called from a borrowed cell phone in Florida. >>> Meredith Heagney | Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Read the story at Pamela Geller’s website, Atlas Shrugs >>> | Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Hat tip: Robert Spencer
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