Honour Killing: A Tradition of Violence

Honour killings have been happening with the intention to silence or control certain behaviors that are considered shameful to cultural beliefs. These “problematic” behaviors may range from engaging in a relationship that is frowned upon, rejecting an arranged marriage, behaving or wearing clothes that are considered to be inappropriate, losing faith and so on. Something that may be as insignificant as not wearing a headscarf or wearing jeans may provoke one’s own family member to act upon executing the victim.

During ancient Roman times, the leading male in a household hold the right to murder an adulterous wife or sexually active daughter who had yet entered into a marriage. Honour-based crimes were known to be in practice in medieval Europe where the early Jewish laws would punish an adulterous wife and her partner by having them stoned to death. Similarly, it was later on adopted in the Ottoman Empire where some Arab countries were ruled under. In the opinion of Sir William Blackstone, the Roman law had justified homicide, "when committed in defence of the chastity either of oneself or relations".[1] This encourages the practice in terms that it justifies such revolting crimes.

In 2000, Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, 24, was kidnapped, tortured and killed.[2] In 2003, we hear the case of Shafilea Ahmed, 17, who was murdered by both her parents.[3] Whereas in 2005, Hatun Sürücü, 23,[4] Ghazala Khan, 18,[5] and Samaira Nazir, 25, were shot and stabbed 18 times to death.[6] 17 year-old Laura Wilson was murdered in 2010.[7] Last year itself, Qandeel Baloch, 26, was strangled to death in her own home.[8] These are the few young women who were the victims of such heinous acts.

However, these killings continue to happen and arise without a hint of being put to an end. Honour killing is not a rare case as it is reported by the United Nations (UN) in 2000 that this atrocity is estimated to have occurred 5,000 times worldwide every year in which the majority of these cases happening in Islamic regions in the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa.[9] Not even developed countries can seek the moral high ground on this issue as even in European countries such as France, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Italy to the United States of America, these violations are committed.

There have been instances where instead of addressing that the cause of death is in relation to honour killing, it is swiped under the rug as domestic violence or suicide or a disappearance. Owing to the fact that honour killings are often committed or conducted by a member of the family or community, there are plenty of times where family members refuse to give cooperation during investigation.

Nonetheless, these occurrences do not go undocumented; they are not unheard of. Even in the US, the practice of honour killing is so prevalent that they have warranted studies. In one particular study called Are Honour Killings Simply Domestic Violence by Phyllis Chesler[10], it highlights the vast difference between honour killings and domestic violence in which they are commonly mixed together in an attempt for lighter sentences. Not only that, with the high rates of this crime coming from Islamic backgrounds, it has been dismissed by a part of the Muslim community on how it is purely a case of domestic violence that occurs among people of other beliefs also. In spite of that, this contemptuous dismissal towards honour crimes shuns further from the real problem.

Honour killings are committed purely based on the lack of approval by certain actions committed by the victim. In countries like the United States of America, Lenore Walker, author of The Battered Women Syndrome were of the same mind that fundamentalist immigrants have more control and are closer in guarding their women or in other words, the “honour” of their families. Walker reassures that there is a difference between these two horrible crimes:

“In ordinary domestic violence involving Westerners, it is rare for brothers to kill sisters or for male cousins to kill female cousins. And while child abuse occurs in which fathers may kill infants and children, it is very rare for Western fathers to kill teenage daughters.”[11]

With the press reporting honour killings in Canada, the United States and Europe, it is seen that based on the same study, these murders are primarily a Muslim-on-Muslim crime. Although men and women who have passed their 20s can be targets for honour killings, the victims are commonly young girls who are robbed of their future. By the same token, honour killings differ from domestic violence considering that they are usually carefully planned and the victims may be repeatedly warned or threatened to face a macabre fate if the victim dares to dishonour the family or community.

Moving on, when Aasiya Hassan was beheaded by her husband for filing a divorce, Kim Gandy who was the former president for the National Organization for Women (NOW) furthered questioned whether the murder was an act of honour killing. She questions, “Is a Muslim man in Buffalo more likely to kill his wife than a Catholic man in Buffalo? A Jewish man in Buffalo? I don't know the answer to that, but I know that there is plenty of violence to go around—and that the long and sordid history of oppressing women in the name of religion surely includes Islam, but is not limited to Islam.”[12]

When the incident occurred, a large group of domestic violence workers sent letters to the media and district attorney’s office emphasizing that honour killing has completely nothing to do with Islam and further statements were racist and harmful.[13] Their point stands but they have also failed to acknowledge the real issue, namely that domestic violence or Western domestic femicides contrast to honour killings and that these cultural beliefs are largely from Muslim backgrounds. The major problem that lies in the said beliefs is that it is taking away an individual’s right to life in which it is an inalienable right that everyone should possess. In this day and age, an individual should not feel threatened to live their lives as they see fit.

To showcase this crime further, there have been multiple books written to address this horrifying issue. In Honour of Fadime: Murder and Shame is a book written by Unni Wikan that shares the story of a young woman named Fadime Sahindal; a Kurdish immigrant to Sweden who was brutally murdered by her own father in 2002. It describes the horrendous tale of how Fadime was killed by her family for pursuing a relationship with a man who was not within the community. This book explains that although honour killings are majorly recurring within the Muslim community, it is in no way sanctioned by the Qur’an or any Islamic teachings but rather from cultural beliefs. This argument is frequently brought up whenever honour killings are mentioned. However, the problem with this argument is that it does not solve anything; it merely attempts to shift blame away from the Muslim communities in which this practice is fully acceptable.

Nevertheless, these spine-chilling crimes are still occurring. From acts such as refusing an arranged marriage, every day bright, young ladies are being tortured, brutally murdered, thrown in rivers, stabbed and shot yet these barbaric sadists are able to get away with such felony. In January 2014, a Jordanian court reduced the sentence of a man guilty of murdering his daughter as she had left her house for several days without informing her husband. The crime that took place on November 13, 2012 in Ruseifeh received a sentence of 10 years imprisonment instead of the death penalty as the man confessed to cold bloodedly murdering his daughter to cleanse the family’s honour.[14]

On top of that, it is also found that the country with the highest rate of honour killings per capita in the world is Jordan in which there are more than one-fourth of reported homicides that were committed in the name of so-called “honour”. From a study by researchers from Cambridge University, it was found that one third of teenagers in Amman, Jordon condone murdering an individual provided that that individual has “dishonoured” the family. The research conducted by Professor Manuel Eisner, a Professor of Comparative and Developmental Criminology, and Lana Ghuneim, a Cambridge graduate had included more than 850 teenagers that were an average of 15 years of age. This shocking result surprisingly showed that the support for such crimes were not due to religious beliefs but rather because of their lack of education background as well as the fact that they come from traditional families.[15]

There are also organizations such as Humanity Healing, Indo Canadian Women’s Association and John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights[16] that deal with honour killings and help victims of forced marriage. In 2008, England, Wales and Ireland[17] are among the fast growing number of countries that have enforced laws on preventing forced marriage which sends a powerful message to families that have or plan on forcing or selling their children without giving them a voice of opinion regarding their own lives.

What makes honour killing an extremely sadistic crime is that these violent and gruesome murders are committed or ordered by the family of the victims. A family is supposed to care and support each other yet to protect the “honour” of the household name, these monsters are willing to go to lengths by ending the life of their own blood. A family should consist of people we trust and hold dear to our hearts, not people who are willing to trade our lives for the sanctity of their reputation.

In summary, honour killing is a practice that have been engrained in cultures around the world for hundreds, if not, thousands of years. The sooner this practice gains the notoriety it deserves on the world stage and countries are able to recognize it for what it is, the sooner these crimes will end. These abhorrent crimes must be punished and the society needs to be pushed to grasp the fact that it should never be tolerated to murder an individual, especially for making their own choices for their own personal lives.

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