Cultural Sensitivity, Forced Marriages, Honour Killings, & Murder
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

Islamic Fundamentalism: Honour Killings Up by 40%
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

Queen Rania of Jordan Takes on Hardliners over Honour Killings
THE TELEGRAPH: Queen Rania of Jordan is challenging Islamic hardliners by supporting tougher sentences for men who commit 'honour killings'.

Queen Rania of Jordan is challenging Islamic hardliners by supporting tougher sentences for men who commit 'honour killings'. Photograph: The Telegraph
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

Ed West: Muslim Honour Killing Book Cancelled over Safety Fears
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: Another European publisher has fallen victim to the continent’s blasphemy laws – blasphemy against Islam, that is. As the German press is reporting:

Dusseldorf – A German publisher has cancelled plans to publish a mass-market novel out of fears that it might face violent protests due to a rude reference to the Koran, Der Spiegel magazine reported Saturday. The crime novel – about the “honour killing” of a Muslim woman – had been scheduled for September publication, but the Droste publishing company of Dusseldorf decided not to print it after all, the magazine said in a story to appear in its Monday issue.

It said the publisher had first asked the author, Gabriele Brinkmann, writing under the pen name WW Domsky, to tone down dialogue in “To Those Worthy of Honour” which might be construed as offensive, but she had refused.

Spiegel reported that the offensive phrase in question was a character saying: “You can shove your Koran up …”

Publisher Felix Droste had asked an expert on Islamic society to study whether the crime story’s text could compromise the safety of his firm or his family, and the expert suggested the phrase be modified.

But the author refused to alter it to “You can shove your honour up …”

Droste wrote back that riots over Danish cartoons that poked fun at the Prophet Mohammed in 2005 showed that anyone publishing insults to Islam was putting their safety at risk, Spiegel said.

Over the weekend… >>> Ed West | Monday, October 05, 2009

Egyptian Politicians Call for Gigimo Artificial Virginity Hymen Kit to Be Banned
THE TELEGRAPH: Egyptian politicians have demanded that an ‘Artificial Virginity Hymen’ kit be banned in the country, calling it a “mark of shame”.

The Gigimo Artificial Virginity Hymen kit: controversial in Egypt Photo: The Telegraph
Artificial Virginity Hymen is distributed by a Chinese company called Gigimo and sells for about £19. It consists of a pouch which is inserted inside a woman’s vagina before sex and leaks a blood-like substance when broken during intercourse.

Its website says, in broken English: “No more worry about losing your virginity. With this product, you can have your first night back anytime... Add in a few moans and groans, you will pass through undetectable.”

Sheik Sayed Askar, a member of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood political party, said: "It will be a mark of shame on the ruling party if it allowed this product to enter the market."

"This product encourages illicit sexual relations. Islamic culture forbids these relations except within the confines of marriage.

Abdel Moati Bayoumi, a prominent Islamic scholar, agreed. He said: "I think this should absolutely not be allowed to be exported because it brings more harm than benefits. Whoever does it (imports it) should be punished." However, the product has met with some support. … >>> Tom Chivers | Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Related:
Pakistani family shot dead in 'honour killing' after wedding >>> | Monday, June 29, 2009

Study alleges 'honour killings' conspiracy >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones | Sunday, February 03, 2008

Honour Killings in Pakistan: Adherents of the Religion of Peace, Love, Compassion and Mercy Have Been Trying to Prove Islam’s Superiority Again!
THE TELEGRAPH: Dozens of relatives of a Pakistani teenager who eloped against her parents' wishes shot her dead on Monday in a raid on her new home which also left her husband and in-laws dead, police said.

Relatives dressed in police uniforms stormed the bridegroom's house in the district of Charsadda, in North West Frontier Province.

"The assailants took the bridegroom out while some of the attackers climbed the wall and entered the house. They killed the bride, the mother and sister of the bridegroom," said Saleem Jan, a police official for the Charsadda district.

"They beat them first and then shot them dead," he told AFP news agency.

The groom's father was also killed, another police official told AFP.

Police said the bride, who was 18 or 19 years old, came from the deeply conservative Mardan district next to Charsadda. She had run away and married her boyfriend, who was around 30, without telling her parents.

"Both the girl and man married some weeks ago," Misal Khan, the bridegroom's uncle, told reporters at the scene.

Police said the main suspects were two uncles and a cousin.

Human rights groups have strongly condemned the practice of honour killings in Pakistan, which claim the lives of hundreds of women each year. Pakistani family shot dead in 'honour killing' after wedding >>> | Monday, June 29, 2009

Iraqi Leaders 'Ignoring Murder of Homosexuals'
THE TELEGRAPH: Iraq's leaders have been accused of ignoring a wave of violence against homosexual men.

In recent weeks, 25 young men and boys have been killed in the country and gay rights groups claim the government has given tacit support to the death squads by staying silent on the crimes.

The lack of action by the authorities has prompted Amnesty International to the Iraqi President, Nouri al-Maliki, demanding "urgent and concerted action" by his government to stop the killings, according to the Independent.

The majority of the deadly attacks have taken place in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, controlled by ultra-conservative Shia militia.

The bodies of four gay men, each bearing a sign with the Arabic word for "pervert" on their chests, were discovered in Sadr City three weeks ago. No arrests have been made.

Amnesty said the murders appeared to have been committed by militiamen and relatives of the victims, who had been incited by religious leaders who condemned 'deviancy'. >>> | Monday, April 13, 2009

THE INDEPENDENT: Iraqi Leaders Attacked over Spate of Homophobic Murders

Dozens of young men and boys killed by death squads in Baghdad

Baghdad, scene of attacks on homosexuals. Ali Hili, a spokesman for gay men in Iraq says: 'It is impossible to be gay and out. It is the most difficult thing to be in the country'. Photo courtesy of The Independent
Iraqi leaders are accused of turning a blind eye to a spate of murders of homosexuals after 25 young men and boys were killed in recent weeks.

Gay groups claim the Iraqi government is giving tacit support to the death squads targeting young homosexuals who venture outdoors.

In an unusual move, Amnesty International will today write to the Iraqi President, Nouri al-Maliki, demanding "urgent and concerted action" by his government to stop the killings. Amnesty said the murders appear to have been carried out by militiamen and relatives of the victims, after being incited by religious leaders. Homosexuality has always been taboo in the country, but a surge of killings followed religious leaders' sermons condemning "deviancy".

The violence came after the improved security situation briefly encouraged some gay men to start meeting discreetly in public. This led to furious condemnation from clerics who have called for homosexuality – which can lead to a prison sentence of seven years – to be eradicated from Iraqi society.

Most of the killings have taken place in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, controlled by ultra-conservative Shi'ite militia. Murders have also been reported in Basra, Najaf and Karbala.

The bodies of four gay men, each bearing a sign with the Arabic word for "pervert" on their chests, were discovered in Sadr City three weeks ago. Following the discovery of another two corpses six days later, an unnamed official in the city told Reuters: "They were sexual deviants. Their tribes killed them to restore their family honour." >>> By Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor | Monday, April 13, 2009

YOUTUBE: Gay Life, Gay Death in Iraq

Women Told: 'You Have Dishonoured Your Family, Please Kill Yourself'
THE INDEPENDENT: As Turkey cracks down on 'honour killings', women are now told to commit suicide

This family of sisters said there had been an honour killing in their village, in one of the most patriarchal areas of Kurdish Turkey, and they live in constant fear. Photo: The Independent
When Elif's father told her she had to kill herself in order to spare him from a prison sentence for her murder, she considered it long and hard. "I loved my father so much, I was ready to commit suicide for him even though I hadn't done anything wrong," the 18-year-old said. "But I just couldn't go through with it. I love life too much."

All Elif had done was simply decline the offer of an arranged marriage with an older man, telling her parents she wanted to continue her education. That act of disobedience was seen as bringing dishonour on her whole family – a crime punishable by death. "I managed to escape. When I was at school, a few girls I knew were killed by their families in the name of honour – one of them for simply receiving a text message from a boy," Elif said.

So-called "honour killings" in Turkey have reached record levels. According to government figures, there are more than 200 a year – half of all the murders committed in the country. Now, in a sinister twist, comes the emergence of "honour suicides". The growing phenomenon has been linked to reforms to Turkey's penal code in 2005. That introduced mandatory life sentences for honour killers, whereas in the past, killers could receive a reduced sentence claiming provocation. Soon after the law was passed, the numbers of female suicides started to rocket.

Elif has spent the past eight months on the run, living in hiding and in fear. Her uncles and other relatives are looking to hunt her down, for dishonour is seen as a stain that can only be cleansed by death. One of the women's shelters where Elif has stayed has been raided by armed family members.

Elif is from Batman, a grey, bleak town in the south-east of Turkey nicknamed "Suicide City". Three quarters of all suicides here are committed by women – nearly everywhere else in the world, men are three times more likely to kill themselves. "I think most of these suicide cases are forced. There are just too many of them, it's too suspicious. But they're almost impossible to investigate," said Mustafa Peker, Batman's chief prosecutor.

Wearing tight clothes or talking to a man who is not a relative is sometimes all it takes to blacken the family name. Mr Peker said women who are told to kill themselves are usually given one of three options – a noose, a gun or rat poison. They are then locked in a room until the job is done. >>> By Ramita Navai in Batman, eastern Turkey | Friday, March 27, 2009

Killing for Honour will be shown on Channel 4 tonight at 7.35pm

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Anti-dhimmitude: Senior Judge Condemns Use of the Word 'Honour' to Describe Abuse and Murder within Muslim Families
Lord Justice Wall states that the notion of honour killings is an affront to English law. Photo courtesy of the MailOnline
MAIL Online: A senior judge today condemned the notion of honour killings as an affront to English law.

Lord Justice Wall declared that 'they are acts of simply sordid criminal behaviour' and 'had nothing to do with any concept of honour known to English law'.

In an Appeal Court test case he ruled that the welfare of children should not be put at risk because of the 'honour' idea held in some Muslim families.

The judge added: 'Arson, domestic violence and potential revenge likely to result in abduction or death are criminal acts which will be treated as such.' >>> By Steve Doughty | Monday, March 16, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Murder in the Family: Honor Killings in America
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Hat tip: Always On Watch

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German Charity Helps Turkish Women Escape Forced Marriages
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The German charity Hatun and Can, set up in memory of "honor killing" victim Hatun Sürücü, helps Turkish women who are in danger of becoming victims of violence. Two women who fled forced marriages tell their stories.

Aylin (not her real name) had just turned 15 when her parents decided she should get married. She had finished her secondary school education and was studying nursing at a vocational school. Of course, she was still living with her parents, in a small town in the German state of Hesse.

A potential husband was soon found, M. from Frankfurt. He had studied business administration and was 13 years older than Aylin. “My parents met him at a relative’s wedding,” she recalls.

Aylin’s parents, who were both born in Turkey in 1954 but grew up in Germany, never bothered to ask if their daughter agreed with their choice. “I was engaged,” she says. “Or rather, I was sold.”

The fiancé’s parents paid Aylin’s parents €17,000 ($26,750) in cash and additionally gave them jewelry worth around €20,000. “Then we all went shopping in Turkey -- his mother, my mother, him and me.” She needed a wedding dress, he[,] a dark suit.

Four hundred guests came to the engagement celebration at Aylin’s parents’ house. Shortly beforehand, Aylin and her fiancé had come into closer contact for the first time. “He hit me in the face when I told him I didn’t like him,” she says. Nevertheless, the engagement proceeded as planned. “Then life in hell began.” German Charity Helps Turkish Women Escape Forced Marriages >>> By Henryk M. Broder | April 24, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

German Rescue from Honour Killing
BBC: A volunteer rescue operation in Germany has sheltered more than 100 Muslim women who fear they will be killed if they do not go through with marriages that their families have arranged for them.

I was unlocking my bicycle outside a shopping mall one afternoon when a group of teenage boys asked me in German if I knew how to break-dance.

I thought I was hearing things, so I said, "Excuse me?"

They repeated their question in typical slang, complete with Berlin dialect, saying they would be glad to show off their hip-hop moves, if I shared some steps of my own.

I laughed and replied that, while I do love dancing, my knees are not quite up to the acrobatic task of break-dance.

Once we got talking, though, I was in for a mental head-spin that would defy any choreography.

All but one of the boys - of Turkish, Kurdish and Palestinian origin - were born in Germany.

They wore jeans and T-shirts and their hair glistened with styling gel. One sported a gold earring.

With their playful jostling, they seemed like teenagers in any Western backdrop, except for one thing: they swore they would kill their own sisters if any of them had sex before marriage.

The boys were convinced that that would destroy their families' honour.

By coincidence, I had just attended a summit on the thorny subject of integration, where a female politician of Turkish descent had appealed for state support for a local organisation that rescues young women fleeing forced marriage, or the threat of an honour killing. 'Honour matters more' >>> By Alexa Dvorson, BBC News Germany

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Defending the West
THE SPECTATOR – Melanie Phillips: Daniel Pipes records how a united display of public condemnation and opprobrium forced Islamist organisations in America to back down over the refusal by Muslim cab drivers to transport blind passengers accompanied by their guide dogs. Faced with a united approach by police, courts and public opinion which resulted in such cab-drivers admonished, fined, re-educated, warned, or even jailed, the Council on American Islamic Relations finally backed down. Pipes concludes:

When Westerners broadly agree on rejecting a specific Islamic law or tradition and unite against it, Western Islamists must adjust to the majority's will. Guide dogs for the blind represent just one of many such consensus issues; others tend to involve women, such as husbands beating wives, the burqa head coverings, female genital mutilation, and ‘honor’ killings. Western unity can also compel Islamists to denounce their preferred positions in areas such as slavery and Shar‘i-compliant finances.

Defending the West >>> By Melanie Phillips

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

A Question of Honour: 17,000 Victims a Year in UK Alone
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Ministers are stepping up the fight against so-called 'honour' crime and forced marriages. Detectives say official statistics are 'merely the tip of the iceberg' of this phenomenon. Brian Brady investigates

Up to 17,000 women in Britain are being subjected to "honour" related violence, including murder, every year, according to police chiefs.

And official figures on forced marriages are the tip of the iceberg, says the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

It warns that the number of girls falling victim to forced marriages, kidnappings, sexual assaults, beatings and even murder by relatives intent on upholding the "honour" of their family is up to 35 times higher than official figures suggest.

The crisis, with children as young as 11 having been sent abroad to be married, has prompted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to call on British consular staff in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan to take more action to identify and help British citizens believed to be the victims of forced marriages in recent years.

The Home Office is drawing up an action plan to tackle honour-based violence which "aims to improve the response of police and other agencies" and "ensure that victims are encouraged to come forward with the knowledge that they will receive the help and support they need". And a Civil Protection Bill coming into effect later this year will give courts greater guidance on dealing with forced marriages. A question of honour: Police say 17,000 women are victims every year >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Sean Hannity & Brigitte Gabriel on Radical Islam

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Sins of the Father
THE SUNDAY TIMES: In a suburban McDonald’s a father begged his wayward daughter to come home... so he and the men of her family could have her beaten, raped and murdered. Fearing violence, but moved by his tears, she relented – and died. Our correspondent investigates how a man can choose the death of a daughter above dishonour

Ari Mahmod held his head up when he went to prison. He felt no embarrassment. And why should he? After all, he said, it was not as if he was locked up for something as inconsequential or shameful as theft. He was sure that, back in the real world of suburban Mitcham, south London, among his own people, they would be thanking his family for what he had done, taking pride in the decisive way he had acted.

Many people might find it hard to comprehend that any man could take pride – pleasure, even – in the brutal murder of his niece. Banaz Mahmod had been beaten, probably raped, and finally strangled with a bootlace in the living room at home. Her uncle Ari had not been there, but he had planned it, knew exactly what was happening, and had been waiting nearby…waiting for his family reputation to be restored.

As he liked to say, in his culture, reputation was more important than life itself. That was why it had to be done – why his brother’s daughter had to die. Sins of the father (more) By David James Smith

WATCH BBC VIDEO ON YOUTUBE:
BBC Report on Honour Killings

Mark Alexander

UK to Crack Down on Honour Killings
THE GUARDIAN: Police and prosecutors target 'hotspots'

Dedicated teams of senior prosecutors are to be deployed in the UK's honour killing hotspots in the wake of the failings exposed this week by the case of a young Kurdish woman murdered by her family.

The prosecutors, who have all had experience of complex organised crime cases, will start work this month as part of an overhaul of how cases are handled. The move is designed to boost conviction rates and improve protection for victims. Special units to crack down on honour killing (more) By Karen McVeigh

THE DAILY MAIL:
'Honour killing' sister breaks her silence By Helen Weathers

Mark Alexander

Honourless Killings; Shameful Killings
THE TELEGRAPH: Would Mahmod Mahmod pass Ruth Kelly's proposed citizenship points-based test? Once he had named the longest river in the United Kingdom, correctly identified the Queen's great-grandfather, ticked the box marked cucumber sandwiches and earned the correct number of credits for civic and voluntary work, the chances are, yes, he would.

Yet since Mahmod brought his family here 10 years ago, after successfully seeking political asylum from Iraq, his integration into British society and appreciation of British values seems to have been slight.

Certainly, in the dock at the Old Bailey this week, Mahmod showed no emotion when he was found guilty of ordering his daughter's murder, but why would he? His family's honour was more important to him than Banaz Mahmod's 20-year-old life, so he arranged to have her killed to restore his good standing in his south London Kurdish community. Where is the honour in killing your daughter? (more) By Jan Moir

Mark Alexander

Honour Killing: 20 Year Old Banaz Mahmod Strangled with Bootlace

Photo courtesy of Google Images (UK)

DAILY MAIL: As a teenager's father and uncle are found guilty in 'honour killing' case, police face an investigation for failing to respond to her desperate warnings. These reports from Fiona Barton and Stephen Wright.

Five police officers are under investigation after a series of terrible blunders left a young Muslim woman at the mercy of killers in her own family.

Banaz Mahmod, 20, was strangled with a bootlace on the orders of her father and uncle, both Iraqi Kurds who ruled their families with violence and fear. Murder girl's five cries for help that were ignored (more) By Fiona Barton and Stephen Wright

Mark Alexander